Election Vulnerabilities: The Problem of Perception

Posted: November 6th, 2016

By Ben Buchanan

Ben Buchanan is a Senior Faculty Fellow at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), where he directs the Cybersecurity and AI Project. Currently, Ben is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he conducts research on the intersection of cybersecurity and statecraft. His first book,The Cybersecurity Dilemma, was published by Oxford University Press in 2017. Previously, he has written journal articles and peer-reviewed papers on artificial intelligence, attributing cyber attacks, deterrence in cyber operations, cryptography, election cybersecurity, and the spread of malicious code between nations and non-state actors. Ben received his Ph.D. in War Studies from King’s College London, where he was a Marshall Scholar. He earned masters and undergraduate degrees from Georgetown University.

When it comes to cybersecurity preparations for the 2016 election, it is now officially too late. The success, perceived and actual, of the election on Tuesday will depend on the efforts officials have made thus far, the willingness of adversaries to interfere, and vulnerabilities that make those threats real.

A first possible target of malicious actors is the voter registration and check-in systems. These are the databases that let users sign up to vote and verify that they are eligible on Election Day itself. It’s reported that the registration systems in more than 20 states have been targeted over the internet in recent months, with hackers gaining access in at least one case to confidential data.

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