Crappy Email Security Could Be the Next Big Threat to American Elections: Report

render theembarrassingcatastrophethat was the 2016 presidential election , staving off cyberattacks and extraneous influence campaigns is a top priority for election functionary across the country as we get unaired to November . Apparently , though , no one thought to apply that same horizontal surface of examination to their electronic mail . Who ’d have mean phishing scams would be the downfall of majority rule ?

Research business firm Area 1 Security publish a report Sunday ( viathe Wall Street Journal ) that tracked more than 10,000 local official and found that more than half used email systems with “ rudimentary or non - standard ” anti - phishing safeguards . Only 18.6 % of election executive utilize “ advanced anti - phishing cybersecurity controls , ” and more than 600 official simply used their personal electronic mail addresses to conduct election - link up clientele .

( Sadly , the report did n’t mention whether any of them used cringey handles , like , say,[email protected]or[email protect ] )

People use electronic voting machines to cast their ballot in the midterm elections at Neighborhood Congregational Church in Laguna Beach, California on election day in 2018.

People use electronic voting machines to cast their ballot in the midterm elections at Neighborhood Congregational Church in Laguna Beach, California on election day in 2018.Photo: Robyn Beck (Getty Images)

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Area 1 Security also find that six legal power in Maine , Michigan , Missouri , and New Hampshire trust on an unpatched version Exim , liberal email software that has been place by Russian hackers in the yesteryear . As the Journal observe , the National Security Agency releaseda federal warningin May about the Russian intelligence operation service do it as the GRU and how it had been exploit flaw in this software to launch cyberattacks and disable security preferences since 2019 . These back door were patched in tardy versions of Exim , but it seems even election officials hale their feet and fall into place “ update later ” when that annoying straightaway pops up .

gratefully , security experts say that county do n’t typically connect their email systems with the same meshwork responsible for for counting votes or housing registration selective information , so these kinds of vulnerabilities would n’t inevitably allow forged actors to cut in and influence vote tallies .

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However , a protection rupture at any level in the election substructure can trade a devastating coke to voter confidence . We saw it happen in 2016 when Russian cyber-terrorist broke into the election systems oftwo Florida counties . Email scheme vulnerabilities leave election officials exposed to ransomware , phishing - found campaigns , and other malicious computer software delivered via email , the Journal reports , which not only disrupt their ability to do their chore but can also tank the populace ’s confidence in election results .

“ The biggest danger in my opinion is not literal vote deepen , ” said J. Michael Daniel , CEO of the non - profit cybersecurity chemical group the Cyber Threat Alliance , in an interview with the mercantile establishment . “ That ’s actually really hard to do at scale leaf in a way that would actually have a significant shock . But what you would be concern about is undermining mass ’s confidence . It starts to upraise these motion about what you may bank . ”

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Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

give that Russian hackers previously made phishing attempts onhigh - profile targetsin 2018 , there ’s a good chance United States Department of State - shop worker could make a similar attack on the 2020 presidential election . However , counties already have their hands full scrambling to oblige societal distancing measure and other health precautions since , you have a go at it , there ’s a literal pandemic going on . And the$400 million in election assistanceallocated as part of Congress ’s stimulus good deal falls far curtly of thebillions of dollarsthat experts predict country and local officials need to keep voter safe at the poll .

In poor , resources are open thinly , even given the estimated $ 1.2 billion in federal funds for election security that state have received in the four years since the last presidential election , per the Journal .

“ Unquestionably , we are better off than we were in 2016 , ” Daniel told the mercantile establishment . “ But better off does not mean that we are where we necessitate to be . ”

William Duplessie