US security services say DDoS attacks shouldn’t affect elections this year

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are a common worry surrounding elections, particularly those using electronic voting systems.

Ahead of the 2024 US Presidential election, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have released a joint statement declaring DDoS attacks will not compromise the integrity of the upcoming vote.

Even if attackers did launch a large-scale DDoS attack against election infrastructure, both security agencies have reassured core data and internal systems will remain untouched, and voting will be able to continue for all eligible voters.

Threat actors seek to undermine election integrity

“These low-level attacks, which are expected to continue as we approach the 2024 U.S. general election, could disrupt the availability of some election-related functions, like voter look-up tools or unofficial election night reporting, during the election cycle but will not impact voting itself,” a joint statement said.

“Threat actors may falsely claim that DDoS attacks are indicative of a compromise related to the elections process as they seek to undermine confidence in U.S. elections. In recent years, DDoS attacks have been a popular tactic used by hacktivists and cyber criminals seeking to advance a social, political, or ideological cause,” the statement continued.

It is no secret state-sponsored groups and cyber criminals have and will continue to make attempts to disrupt elections, with both agencies reminding voters to obtain information from official sources, especially on the topics of voter registration, mail-in voting, election results and polling locations.

Voters should report suspicious or criminal activity targeting election systems to a local FBI field office by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or by using the online service at ic3.gov.

CISA Senior Advisor Cait Conley provided reassurance to those heading to the polls in November, saying, “With Election Day less than 100 days away, it is important to help put into context some of the incidents the American public may see during the election cycle that, while potentially causing some minor disruptions, will not fundamentally impact the security or integrity of the democratic process.”

“DDoS attacks are one example of a tactic that we have seen used against election infrastructure in the past and will likely see again in the future, but they will NOT affect the security or integrity of the actual election,” Conley concluded.

Via BleepingComputer