Lisa Monaco, the president’s assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism, said the Department of Homeland Security has reached out to state election administrators to offer cybersecurity support and boost public confidence in voting systems, Federal News Radio reported Thursday.Jared Serbu writes Monaco told a Center for Strategic and International Studies forum audience the White House will offer tools that state secretaries can procure through the DHS in an effort to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
Monaco did not specify Russia as the culprit in recent election hacks, but noted that the country has been a “bad actor” in the cyberspace and emphasized that no country shall have a free pass on terrorist activity.
The FBI has discovered breaches on two state election databases from foreign hackers in August one of which led to voter registration data theft and triggered an investigation on the incidents.
DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson previously announced the department is considering a potential need for the election system to receive security support against potential cyber attacks.
