Week ahead: Focus turns to election hacking threats

The House Science Committee in the coming week will hold a hearing on protecting the 2016 election from cyberattacks, amid growing concerns that Russia is attempting to interfere in U.S. politics.

The committee will review current guidelines for protecting voting and election systems — and whether or not states are effectively implementing those safeguards leading into the Nov. 8 contest.

{mosads}Specifically, the committee is concerned about the security of electronic voting machines, online voting, voter registration databases and vote tally databases.  

Experts say the patchwork of voting systems across states are extremely vulnerable to attack. The Tuesday hearing comes as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is examining whether to designate certain electoral systems as critical infrastructure, bringing them under the agency’s mantle of protection.

The agency in August offered to help states scan their voting systems ahead of the elections to thwart potential hacking attempts.

The offer has gotten a mixed response. Georgia has already declined the offer, citing state sovereignty concerns. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania, a battleground state, has been in touch with DHS officials about possible protections.

Concerns about the security of the election are at a high, after suspected Russian intelligence hackers infiltrated the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in what many see as an attempt to damage Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Security experts say it’s conceivable Russian operatives might have the ability to hack voting machines to influence the outcome of the election.

Clinton’s Republican opponent, Donald Trump, has meanwhile repeatedly expressed concerns that the election will be “rigged” by his opponents, even as he downplays concerns about Russia’s activities. Trump earlier this year joked about Russia hacking Clinton’s emails.

Officials have presented a mixed message about the potential threat.

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said this week that “it would be very difficult through any sort of cyber intrusion to alter the ballot count, simply because it is so decentralized and so vast.”

But “the Russians hack our systems all the time,” according to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. “Not just government but also corporate and personal systems.”

Tuesday’s hearing will take place at 10 a.m., with witnesses from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), The Center for Election Innovation & Research, state government and academia.

Meanwhile, at NIST, officials will be sorting through comments on behalf of the brand new White House Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, which were deadlined Friday.

The list of topics was extensive, with officials asking for feedback on any issue related to cybersecurity that might come up over the next decade.

Security pros, trade associations and businesses have all weighed in.

OTHER STORIES:

FBI Director James Comey says his agency is watching out for potential interference in U.S. elections by a foreign nation:

The White House on Thursday named retired Brig. Gen. Gregory J. Touhill the first-ever Federal Chief Information Security Officer (CISO).

Two North Carolina men were arrested on Thursday for allegedly hacking various accounts of federal officials and others in a 2015 spree that included illicit access of law enforcement databases.

A new report from the House Oversight Committee slams the massive data breach at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) as something that “could have been prevented.”

Democrats are taking aim at Donald Trump’s perceived ties to Russia.