Carper urges action on cybersecurity vulnerabilities across U.S. election system

U.S. Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) called for action on Monday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities in voting machines and other information technology used in election systems across the U.S.

“Election security is critical and a cyberattack by foreign actors on our election systems could compromise the integrity of our voting process,” Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said. “The American public should have confidence in our current election systems and the efforts of state and local governments that have made the risk of voter fraud and a successful cyberattack remote. At the same time, the federal government can play a supporting role in helping address the potential for these types of attacks. Designating election systems as critical infrastructure could improve and expand our nation’s ability to prevent and to respond to potential cyberattacks originating both from inside or outside our borders. As such, I commend your efforts to carefully consider this issue and urge you to make this determination as quickly as is feasible.”

Carper’s call to action comes in the wake of reports that foreign actors may have been involved in a document leak from the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said that his department is considering action to better secure election systems at the state and local levels.