HEAD OF US CYBERSECURITY AGENCY SEES PROGRESS ON ELECTION SECURITY, WITH MORE WORK NEEDED FOR 2024

Efforts to protect the nation’s election systems have grown exponentially since the 2016 presidential election, but more is needed to defend the integrity and resiliency of the election process ahead of next year’s vote, the head of the nation’s cybersecurity agency said this week

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Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, known as CISA, announced plans to boost resources within the agency, hiring 10 additional election security specialists who will be across the country to interact directly with state and local officials. Easterly made the announcement at the summer conference of the National Association of State Election Directors in Charleston, South Carolina.

“Our capabilities and posture in this area is simply night and day when you compare it to 2016,” Easterly told the officials gathered for her speech. “Despite this progress, we know there is more we have to do and that we must remain vigilant in the face of new and evolving risk.”

CISA is charged with protecting critical infrastructure, including the nation’s dams, banks and nuclear power plants. U.S. voting systems were added after the 2016 election and Russia’s multipronged effort to meddle.

Since then, state and local election officials have been working to shore up cybersecurity defenses around U.S. voting systems with the help of millions of dollars allocated by Congress over the years. In its efforts to secure elections, CISA works across government, partnering with federal, state and local agencies on various initiatives and providing direct support through cybersecurity reviews, assessments of physical security protocols, remote testing to look for vulnerabilities and other services.