Reposted from EMR-ISAC
The 2024 election cycle is now underway, and the Nov. 5 Election Day is fast approaching. U.S. elections remain an attractive target for both nation-states and cyber criminals. Election officials and private sector election infrastructure partners are the frontline defenders in securing the electoral process from the physical, cyber, and operational security threats they face. The following are several resources that may assist emergency managers and emergency responders in their roles ensuring physical security, security of election workers and public officials, and planning and coordination for special security events or large gatherings related to elections. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a Cross-Sector Checklist to Support Elections on Sept. 30. The administration of elections relies on infrastructure owned and operated by other critical infrastructure sectors. Scheduled or unexpected outages in other critical infrastructure sectors could have significant cascading effects on the administration of an election. This resource is a checklist that provides a series of questions to help critical infrastructure owners identify actions they can take to support elections. It also gives a basic overview of election administration and highlights how other sectors play a critical role in election operations. CISA launched an Election Security Resource Library as part of its #Protect2024 campaign. This collection has several additional planning checklists for physical security of election offices, facilities, ballot boxes, polling locations, as well as resources on mitigating insider threats and swatting attacks.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released an Election Security Resource Guide last month. This resource outlines the activities eligible for grant funding under the Homeland Security Grant Program that enhance election security and the protection of soft targets and crowded places. It lists several additional guidance documents from CISA and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) related to election security for state and local officials, emergency managers, and critical infrastructure owners and operators. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) released an Insight last month, Election Worker Safety and Privacy. Concerns about election workers’ safety and privacy have been reported in surveys, news articles, and congressional hearings from the 2020 elections through the current election cycle. This Insight provides a brief overview of recent federal activity on election worker safety and privacy.
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