Election Security Solutions
Dr. Chase Cunningham contributes primarily to Forrester's offerings for security and risk professionals. His research guides client initiatives related to security operations center (SOC) planning and optimization, counter-threat operations, encryption, network security, and Zero Trust concepts and implementation. He helps senior technology executives with their plans to leverage comprehensive security controls and the use of a variety of standards, frameworks, and tools to enable secure business operations. His research focuses on integrating security into operations; leveraging advanced security solutions; empowering operations through artificial intelligence and machine learning; and planning for future growth within secure systems. Prior to joining Forrester, Chase served as a director of cyber threat intelligence operations at Armor. He was the computer network exploitation lead for Telecommunication Systems and the chief of cyber analytics for Decisive Analytics. Dr. Cunningham is a retired US Navy chief with more than 19 years' experience in cyberforensic and cyberanalytic operations. He has past operations experience, stemming from time spent in work centers within the NSA, CIA, FBI, and other government agencies. In those roles, he helped clients operationalize security controls, install and leverage encryption and analytic systems, and grow and optimize their security operations command systems and centers. Help provide safer and more secure elections during COVID-19 and beyond. Election administrators currently face unprecedented logistical and economic challenges as they plan for safe and secure elections. From a health perspective, proper social distancing and sanitation measures will be required. From a security perspective, enhancing existing election network security in order to guard against advanced cyber attacks will be essential. Having the ability to quickly and securely stand up new polling sites in order to maintain proper social distancing and protect the health of voters and workers is equally critical. Verizon is here as your trusted technology and support partner to help you deliver safe and secured elections as well as help you understand available federal funds that can significantly reduce overall costs. The federal government has made significant funds available to help state and local governments prepare for safe and secured elections. These funds are available for your use right now. Help protect the vote,Explore these resources we've put together to help you deliver safe and secure elections. When voters go to the polls, they might not realize the complex blend of components that power today's democratic system. Secure these, and you stand a much better chance of mitigating the threat from external actors. Days after the declaration of a global pandemic, the City of Chicago held their Presidential primary elections. Learn how this city was not only able to pivot, but also able to deliver a secured primary election during unprecedented times. From helping to ensure that vote transmission data remains private and secure, to helping guard against bad actors intending to manipulate data, learn about the various methods of voting, real and perceived threats, and review recommended approaches that can improve cybersecurity and voter confidence at polling sites. ,State and local election agencies face an unprecedented challenge with having to plan elections in the midst of a pandemic. Having the ability to quickly and securely deploy "pop-up" polling sites that may not have been previously designed for voting will be critical. Solutions,Cisco Webex from Verizon provides election officials with the ability to securely collaborate with each other while helping to enable flexible application and enterprise-grade security integration. Verizon's Virtual Contact Center for Government can help election officials provide tailored responses to prospective voters. When needing to train election officials remotely, gain the flexibility to hold virtual trainings from anywhere by using web, voice and video conferencing. Send, receive and sync messages from multiple devices over our 4G LTE network. Access scalable connectivity, backed by secure network technologies. When an unexpected disaster strikes and time is of the essence, the Verizon Response Team (VRT) can be there to help enhance and/or extend essential connectivity. Help empower election officials to share information quickly and securely with reliable, fast and flexible connectivity. For eligible customers, network priority and pre-emption capability can provide mission-critical communication capabilities for agencies that need it the most. *For eligible government customers only; please refer to your sales representative for eligibility. Help protect your voters' data with seamless, secure access to a private network that keeps your data separate from the public internet. Help mitigate the effects of unexpected and unpredictable distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Domain Name Service (DNS) Safeguard acts as a firewall, helping to prevent your on- and off- network devices from connecting to malicious sites. Help enable access to the expertise, tools and knowledge to help prepare for and respond to election cyberattacks. Podcasts,This,With the 2020 election coming up, perceived and real threats to election security can shake voter confidence. In addition, bad actors could potentially implement new infiltration tactics this year – reinforcing how Boards of Elections need to be fully prepared to hold safe and secure elections, especially with the compounding challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to developing the right security strategies in advance of November 3election, there are many ways that Boards of Elections can help ensure a safe and secure election day. Clearly, leading up to November, election security is a major priority for our nation. Though, what can be done from a security perspective once the elections are over?,As November 2020 approached, the topic of election security and voter safety amid a pandemic was both timely and top of mind for much of the United States. We sat down with Dr. Chase Cunningham, VP and Principal Analyst with Forrester Research, to get his insights on how election officials could help deliver safe and secured experiences at the polls. Here's what Chase had to say based on his research around cybersecurity and risk. A:Well, obviously, right now the whole issue of the health and safety of the voting population is a pretty key issue. We have an entire country that is mired in a pandemic crisis, and having humans stand in line for potentially hours on end to cast a ballot is a breeding ground for viral transmission. Coupled with that is the issue around how to keep the voting machines themselves from being tampered with. There have been many instances from hackathons and conferences where we have seen that voting machines can be manipulated by physical means. If one vote on one machine is noted as potentially being manipulated, then the entirety of the vote can be compromised, and with all the turmoil we have nationally right now, we don't want that. A:Electronic voting is basically just allowing a vote to be cast via some electronic means. This has already been commonplace in many parts of the US for a long time. Online voting is much broader in that it is voting via email and other online sources, which is potentially problematic. Consider that other countries — including the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, Finland, and the UK — have all tried online voting and eventually punted on that approach, as it was counter to the integrity that the voting system required. It is hard enough to have a safe and secure vote in person or through the mail, and the challenge becomes even greater when you throw in the anonymity and potential fraud that the internet allows for. It would take a truly innovative solution to allow for safe and secure online voting. A:The most important thing is open communication and avoiding the perception of impropriety or obfuscation. In other words, those leaders should be working very hard to let everyone in those districts know exactly what is happening and to clearly communicate what each voter should expect. That way, everyone understands what is happening and isn't surprised by new controls. Additionally, they should provide clear evidence to everyone who votes on what they are doing to secure those devices and keep them from being tampered with. The goal needs to be making sure every voter knows that their vote counts and is being secured as it is processed. A:From the health perspective, we want to see lots of PPE and social distancing and a fast process to get folks through the voting line. We also want to see plenty of cleaning being done and that those waiting in line get as much open air as possible. For the cyber side of things, there should be dedicated and separate circuits that the vote data uses, and connectivity on the voting machines should be turned off until it's time to transmit results. As well, the machines should all be locked and controlled via physical means by people who have the authority to act should they see anything amiss. A:There are federal, state, and local pools of money that are afforded to help with all of this. But each district should be moving on this now, and they should have been moving on it a long time ago. Regardless, the money and manpower are available to provide for safe and secure elections. The time to act is now, and each district needs to have a plan for the worst-case scenario. Funds should be allocated along the lines of what will stop problems in the voting cycle and should not just be tossed at the bigger project side of this. Secure connectivity, secure machines, open communications, and health and well-being are what need to be funded. A:Listen to all three podcasts,Let's connect. State & Local Government,1-844-662-0009,Dr. Chase Cunningham contributes primarily to Forrester's offerings for security and risk professionals. His research guides client initiatives related to security operations center (SOC) planning and optimization, counter-threat operations, encryption, network security, and Zero Trust concepts and implementation. He helps senior technology executives with their plans to leverage comprehensive security controls and the use of a variety of standards, frameworks, and tools to enable secure business operations. His research focuses on integrating security into operations; leveraging advanced security solutions; empowering operations through artificial intelligence and machine learning; and planning for future growth within secure systems. Prior to joining Forrester, Chase served as a director of cyber threat intelligence operations at Armor. He was the computer network exploitation lead for Telecommunication Systems and the chief of cyber analytics for Decisive Analytics. Dr. Cunningham is a retired US Navy chief with more than 19 years' experience in cyberforensic and cyberanalytic operations. He has past operations experience, stemming from time spent in work centers within the NSA, CIA, FBI, and other government agencies. In those roles, he helped clients operationalize security controls, install and leverage encryption and analytic systems, and grow and optimize their security operations command systems and centers. These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information. 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