FBI SAYS ATTACKS ON ELECTION INFRASTRUCTURE WON’T STOP VOTING

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have declared that while Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks on election infrastructure can hinder access to voting information, they could not stop people from voting.

In an official announcement, FBI and CISA said DDoSs are common cyber-attacks that can slow or render election-related public-facing websites inaccessible, which could hinder voters' ability to access voting information or voting results. A DDoS attack occurs when attackers flood a public-facing, Internet accessible server with requests, rendering the targeted server slow or inaccessible. This prevents users from accessing online resources, such as web pages and online accounts, and may disrupt business activities for a period of time.

The public should be aware that if foreign actors or cyber criminals were able to successfully conduct DDoS attacks against election infrastructure, the underlying data and internal systems would remain uncompromised, and anyone eligible to vote would still be able to cast a ballot. In the past, cyber actors have falsely claimed DDoS attacks have compromised the integrity of voting systems in an effort to mislead the public that their attack would prevent a voter from casting a ballot or change votes already cast. The FBI and CISA have no reporting to suggest a DDoS attack has ever prevented a registered voter from casting a ballot, or compromised the integrity of any ballots cast.

The FBI and CISA have worked closely with election officials across the country to identify alternative channels to disseminate information to voters, such as verified social media accounts, traditional media, and other backup resources. Election officials have multiple safeguards and plans in place to limit the impact and recover from a DDoS incident with minimal disruption to the voting process.

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