These funds simply are not enough to cover the vast number of machines that need to be replaced. What we have now is too little way too late and should have started post-2016. While Congressional funds are available for states to use to replace outdated, vulnerable machines, weвЂ™re seeing a long term underinvestment from the government. Combined, this paints a potentially grim picture for this yearвЂ™s elections. In addition, there isnвЂ™t a consistent managed environment for election support - itвЂ™s built up and torn down for each election. Some took minutes, some took hours, but they were all vulnerable. In 2019, cybersecurity researchers gathered to test the security of 100 voting machines, and every single device was compromised in some way. The 2016 election, of course, saw Russian nation-state meddling, and todayвЂ™s news has revealed they are attempting to interfere once again. We know that voting machines are vulnerable to foreign interference and manipulation.

Missing or inaccessible votes simply arenвЂ™t an option, so those tasked with protecting this critical data must be prepared with a ransomware response plan now. Protecting backups with the same integrity as election systems themselves will ensure they remain clean and accessible, which is particularly important in time-sensitive situations like a presidential election. Tightly integrating cybersecurity with backup and disaster recovery will be key to keeping election systems up and running. It isnвЂ™t too late for government IT and security pros to take proactive action to minimize disruptions on election day.

Given the proximity of this attack to the election, itвЂ™s safe to assume that other attacks are in the works that we simply arenвЂ™t aware of yet вЂ“ itвЂ™s a hallmark of ransomware operators to capitalize on fear, and the heightened level of tension leading up to the election is a perfect storm for these gangs to maximize their payouts. This doesnвЂ™t come as a surprise, but should act as a warning for both government officials and voters that incidents like this one are a real threat to the integrity of elections. WhatвЂ™s more, after initially disclosing that an attack from earlier this month had hit вЂњcritical systems within the Hall County Government networks,вЂќ Hall County in Georgia has revealed that the ransomware attack has impacted election infrastructure, affecting a voter signature database and voting precinct map hosted on the countyвЂ™s website.ДЄ cyberattack affecting election infrastructure this year was inevitable, and the incident in Georgia validates the concerns held by many about threat actors interfering with voting systems. The FBI and CISA reported in a joint statement that Russian state-sponsored hackers obtained user and administrator credentials to target the computer networks of state and local governments, successfully infiltrating data from at least two victim servers. News reports last week revealed that US national security officials say Iran and Russia are responsible for sending threatening emails to Democratic voters ahead of next monthвЂ™s presidential election.ДЄccording to the news, Russians are breaking into state and local networks and exfiltrating data, while Hall County in Georgia has reported the first known ransomware attack on election infrastructure during the current election cycle.

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