WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s homeland security adviser said Wednesday that it would be hard for someone to hack into America’s voting systems in a way that could alter an election.
Lisa Monaco, speaking at an event commemorating the 10-year anniversary of the Justice Department’s national security division, said election systems by and large are not hooked up to the internet and are diffusely operated by state and local governments.
“That makes it extremely disparate, extremely diffuse and, as a consequence, extremely difficult to have an effect across the board that would result in a change in results,” Monaco said during a question-and-answer session.
The bigger worry, she said, involves efforts to sow “concern or confusion” about the system.
To help counter that, the federal government is pushing out to states a set of tools, such as the ability to scan for vulnerabilities and quickly patch them, and best practices that they should apply — including encrypting their voter registration data, she said.
The comments come amid ongoing concern about the ability by hackers from Russia or other nations to breach voting systems. The FBI last month warned state elections officials to boost their election security in light of evidence that hackers targeted related data systems in at least two states, Illinois and Arizona.
“The efforts of malicious actors to intrude upon voter registration databases and other elements of our critical infrastructure, as well as our voting infrastructure” remain of concern, she said.
A Homeland Security Department official who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly said the department was not looking at designating election systems critical infrastructure now because of how little time there is until the elections. The official said the focus has been on providing information to states on technical assistance the department can provide to secure their systems as well as existing vulnerability reports it sends out.
A Presidential Policy Directive released in 2013 details 16 sectors that are considered critical infrastructure, including energy, financial services, healthcare, transportation, food and agriculture, and communications. The designation recommends the Homeland Security Department’s secretary identify and prioritize critical infrastructure, considering physical as well as cyber threats.
An official said the department was looking at designating election systems as critical infrastructure.
