Following the 2016 elections, investigators found evidence that Russian hackers successfully infiltrated the computerized voting systems of several states. Hackers also stole data from campaigns and weaponized social media polarizing the electorate against and for certain candidates. All of this undermines the trust we all place in the United States’ election system. There is nothing more powerful in a democratic country than a legitimate election. Unchecked, these actions and future similar future actions against our elections are a significant danger to our democracy. It’s clear we’ll be facing similar threats in the 2020 election cycle.
Elections have become a new target in asymmetrical cyber warfare, allowing smaller groups to launch targeted attacks that have an outsized impact. To ensure our democracy is resilient in the face of these bad actors and nation-states, Congress must take action to adequately fund our election system’s cyber defenses and implement programs that bring about greater digital resilience in our government systems and in candidate’s campaigns. More importantly, something so fundamental to the country – trust in our elections –…
