Feds Hold First Public Election Security Talks

CHICAGO, Jan. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, DEFCON – the world's largest, longest running hacker conference – joined forces with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA) to host a panel on the U.S. federal government's role in protecting America's voting infrastructure and digital democracy from cyber interference attempts such as those carried out by Russia in the 2016 election. The conversation represented the first time the federal perspective was given – with input from both Congressional and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stakeholders – and comes within weeks of the nation's first 2018 primaries, set to get underway in Illinois in March. FULL EVENT VIDEO COVERAGE HERE.

As a growing bench of bipartisan and national security leaders call for action, the panel examined considerations at the federal level, including DHS's expanded role under the Department's 2017 designation of elections as a Critical Infrastructure subsector.  Key participants included Rick Driggers, DHS Deputy Assistant Secretary with the Office of Cybersecurity & Communications, Douglas Lute, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, and Greg Bales with U.S. Senator Richard Durbin's Office.  The event was held as a follow up and opportunity forfederal leaders to respond to a recent DEFCON event, held in Chicago in December, that debuted the nation's first Election Security Plan for state and local election officials across the country.

"An expanding cast of national security leaders have said Russia isn't going away and poses a serious threat to the 2018 elections and our democracy," said Jake Braun, cybersecurity instructor with University of Chicago and moderator for the event. "Elections are in the state and local purview, but this is a national security priority and it's important to hear from the federal and national security leaders who ultimately need to step up with support and funding. Today's event is a move in the right direction."

Titled "Elections & Cybersecurity: Federal Government Perspectives on a National Security Imperative," the panel represented the fourth in a series of discussions hosted by DEFCON to raise the alarm around election cyber vulnerabilities. Last summer, DEFCON hosted a "Voting Village" at its annual conference in Vegas. The Village assembled more than 25 pieces of election equipment – including voting machines and poll books still used in U.S. elections today – and made them accessible to 20,000+ hackers who were encouraged to test the technology and expose cyber vulnerabilities for educational purposes. The event's concept was born out of news and U.S. intelligence reports regarding Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 elections.

A report on the DEFCON Voting Village's findings is available online. To learn more, please visit the Voting Village on Twitter @VotingVillageDC.  Today's panel event is also available for viewing HERE.

Media Contact: Jaclyn Houser, 517-420-4372 or [email protected]

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SOURCE DEFCON

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