The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has issued a pair of checklists that would help state and local election administrators properly defend election systems against cybersecurity and physical security threats less than two months before the presidential election, CyberScoop reports.
Included in the cybersecurity checklist are recommendations to activate multi-factor authentication, separate election networks from other business operations, and track traffic from such networks. Officials have also been urged to ensure encrypted backups for sensitive systems and data, use the agency's cyber hygiene scanning tools, and guarantee incident response plans from their website service providers.
"Election officials around the country are unwavering in their commitment to enhance the cyber and physical security of election infrastructure to meet an evolving threat environment. As election officials and their teams enter into final preparations for November, these checklists help highlight some of the most common threat vectors, security practices, and resilience measures for consideration," said CISA Senior Advisor to the Director Cait Conley.
