Election security is a big topic, but it resembles a many-legged centipede. Federal contractors face the reality that elections are the purview of state, county and municipal officials. The technical and managerial abilities of these entities vary from what you might expect in a tiny hamlet to what you might encounter in a million-person suburban county.

With the mid-term elections looming, protecting the integrity of our most basic democratic right has become a matter of critical importance.  According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to defending civil liberties in a digital world, election security remains just as vulnerable as in 2016 and encourages Secretaries of State to be pressed to do their job and increase security before voters cast their ballo

Fear of digital sabotage of the mid-term elections has become the biggest cybersecurity talking point of 2018. With the latest election security bill stalled in Congress and suspicions that Russia (and possibly others) are still seeking to sow divisions among the U.S. electorate, voters and political organizations are right to be worried.

On the same day that U.S. intelligence agencies issued a non-classified report citing that Russian state-sponsored influence campaigns sought to “undermine public faith in the U.S. democratic process…” using a blend of covert activity (such as cyber activity) with overt efforts (state-funded media, paid trolls, etc.) the Department of Homeland Security took steps to protect the bedrock of our voting system – the nation’s election infrastructure.