Cyber agency remains vigilant despite finding no ‘credible threats’ to election

As polls open on Election Day, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said it has not identified any “specific or credible threats” that would disrupt the election system.

During a background call to reporters on Tuesday, a senior CISA official said the agency is confident that the election is as secure as it can be because of the steps it has taken, including closely working with state and local election officials to ensure that they have the resources in place to protect the election infrastructure.

However, the official said the agency remains vigilant, as election threats may arise at any time, including low-level cyber activities such as denial-of-service attacks, website defacement and website outages.

“It’s important to remember that such incidents will not affect a person’s ability to cast a ballot or know that their ballot was counted accurately, and that the election is secure,” the official emphasized.

In October, CISA and the FBI released a joint advisory that said any attempts to undermine the election system are “unlikely” to cause large-scale disruptions or prevent voting. 

But last week, CISA Director Jen Easterly said her agency is concerned about the rise of foreign interference in the election, including disinformation campaigns from Russia, China and Iran.

“It’s a significant concern because we think about these adversaries that are trying to sow discord, that are trying to break us apart, that are trying to undermine the integrity of our elections,” Easterly said. 

A Russian oligarch with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin proved the merit of such concerns when he said on Monday that he interfered in U.S. elections despite past denials.

Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s chef” because of his catering contracts wih the Kremlin, said Russia has been interfering in U.S. elections “carefully and surgically.”

“We have interfered, are interfering and will continue to interfere,” Prigozhin said in comments posted to social media a day before the midterms, The Associated Press reported. “Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way.”

Asked about Prigozhin’s comments, the CISA official said whether what he said was true or not, it’s “irrelevant” as the agency is focused on securing the election from threats.

China has also been mentioned by the U.S. government as a major election threat to watch out for. 

The FBI has warned that Chinese hackers were scanning the headquarters of Democratic and Republican state parties for vulnerable systems they could potentially hack ahead of the midterms.

In October, cybersecurity firm Mandiant released a report that found that a pro-Chinese disinformation group has been aggressively targeting the U.S. by attempting to discredit the U.S. political system and discourage Americans from voting in the midterms.