National Protection and Programs Directorate
Washington – Senior officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) met today with members of the Sector Coordinating Council (SCC) for the Election Infrastructure Subsector and conducted a classified briefing on the current cyber threat landscape for the election community. The SCC was chartered in February 2018 to provide a framework for the federal government’s engagement with private sector members of the election community, including equipment vendors, e-poll book providers, and other election service providers. Through the SCC, DHS and member organizations have built a trusted public-private partnership to share threat information, exchange best practices, and collaborate on exercises and incident planning.
“Sharing information is one of the key ways the Department of Homeland Security supports both our public and private sector partners in our shared effort to keep the nation’s elections secure and resilient,” said Deputy Under Secretary for the DHS National Protection and Programs Directorate Matthew Travis. “Today’s briefing is another great example of the growing partnership between DHS and the election sector, as we all work together to ensure that come Election Day, Americans’ votes will be counted as cast.”
“Election industry organizations are united with DHS and other government partners in efforts to fortify our collective readiness for November,” said Kay Stimson, co-chair of the SCC and Vice President of Government Affairs for Dominion Voting Systems. “Having a clear understanding of current threats against election infrastructure, as well as the defenses that exist, helps to inform important security decisions at all levels.”
“The Sector Coordinating Council is pleased to be working closely with the Department of Homeland Security to further the integrity of America’s voting infrastructure,” said Kathy Rogers, co-chair of the SCC and SVP of Elections System & Software. “The issues we are addressing are vital to our nation’s democracy, and the dedication to the coordination, transparency and progressive thinking by all involved in this effort is encouraging. I believe we are breaking new ground that will lead to even more secure and accurate elections across our great nation.”
Today’s briefing, which was not due to any specific threat, was part of the department’s ongoing security dialogue with the election community. This includes regular meetings with both the SCC and the Government Coordinating Council, the establishment of the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC) to share real-time information across the sector, providing ongoing technical services, and supporting incident response planning, training and exercises.
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