How Can Cybersecurity and Risk Monitoring Mitigate Threats to The US Electoral Infrastructure?
Technological support is critical in a country’s government’s judiciary and legal proceedings, especially during the elections. The electoral infrastructure is constantly monitored for potential risks. Cybersecurity of its relevant networks is constantly being updated to help organizations tackle and prevent such attacks.
After the 2016 attack on the American electoral infrastructure, cyber security services San Marcos and elsewhere in the USA worked harder to strengthen their reinforcements. They utilized more comprehensive external attack surface management, deep, dark web networks, and global internet insights for risk monitoring.
What was the 2016 attack on the American election infrastructure?
Russian interference was reported during the 2016 US elections; as a result, the Democratic party campaigns suffered. The Republicans were accused of getting an unfair advantage over them. It also created a national state of political and social unrest.
American intelligence agencies reported the attack being codenamed Project Lakhta, conducted at direct orders by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Fake profiles and fabricated articles took over social media while the hackers with relations to the Russian military intelligence service hacked into the servers of the Democratic National Committee and other associated institutions. Even though Russia denied all allegations, American diplomatic relations with the country were revised and closed.
This entire sequence of investigations that took place over the next four years, concluding in 2020, was dubbed as one of America’s “highest-profile congressional inquiries.”
What steps were taken in cybersecurity management as a result?
The Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity took on the task of advancing technological solutions for a fair and square 2020 election. It resolved to restore the security and resilience of the election infrastructure. The agency conducted a wide but nuanced and deliberate campaign across the USA and monitored the entire attack surface of 8000 state and local government jurisdictions.
As technology constantly evolves to provide a more secure interface and network, newer threats are also coming up to breach these protections. Disinformation campaigns, troll accounts on the internet, and foreign influence activities targeting the election infrastructure need to be nipped in the bud.
There are some important methods engaged by cyber security services San Marcos to determine suspicious cyber activities:
Attack surface enumeration
It finds out the most vulnerable parts of a system that need to be secured most. This is done across the electoral network infrastructure. It identifies attack vectors with the help of cyber threats intelligence overlays.
Automated analysis and reports
A large number of automatically generated tests are conducted regularly to check the credibility of the security software. In the case of security breaches, abnormalities can be detected here.
Cyber Intelligence Knowledge Management
Information about threats along with threat actors that helps harmful events to occur in cyberspace is managed by cybersecurity services. The intelligence sources include open-source intelligence, social media strategies, technical intelligence, or intelligence from the deep and dark web.
Conclusion
The development of proactive early warning systems has helped the government mitigate threats to the US election infrastructure. Suspicious or potentially dangerous domains have been identified, and cyber investigations have been launched against them with more advanced technology. These reinforcements have led to a fair 2020 election in the USA.
