Trusting Election Integrity Amid Cybersecurity Concerns

Trust the election process, as officials emphasize its security and resilience against misinformation.

### Trusting the Election Process: Security, Integrity, and Transparency
* 🗳 Officials are urging the electorate to "**trust the process**," emphasizing that the election system is **secure and resilient against threats of hacking and rigging**.
* 🔒 The Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), led by **Jen Easterly since 2021**, has been proactive in addressing concerns about **election integrity** and has focused on **personal outreach to build trust**.
* 🎖 Easterly, a West Point graduate with military experience, has made **transparency a priority**, engaging with both the private and public sectors to foster **relationships and open communication**.
* 📱 A significant challenge during elections is the **dissemination of misinformation through social media**, which complicates how voters **verify the information** they receive.
* 🔍 Voters are encouraged to consult **official state election websites** for accurate information and to understand that **election results may not be available immediately** on election day.
* ⏳ The integrity of the electoral process relies on **patience**, as **every vote must be counted thoroughly**, and the results will **take time to finalize**.
* 🤝 Despite skepticism towards institutions, the ongoing efforts of CISA and its leadership aim to **strengthen public confidence** in the electoral system and its processes.

Let's help our audience understand what is the problem here. Or the instruction that officials are asking the electorate to brace for. But right now, I think the question and what they really are trying to tell everyone is trust the process. The election system and all of the networks are secure and resilient. And the idea of your vote being hacked or being rigged or taken away from you is a fallacy. And they have spent the better part of the last year preparing to refute those claims and push back against any question of the integrity of the election system. What's interesting is about who leads CISA and how it's become sort of a personalized agency as well in many ways. That's right. Jen Easterly has come on board as the head of the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency in 2021, and she has really sort of centralized the focus of the agency on herself. She's a West Point graduate. She's done tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.

One thing that I didn't really know about her is that she can actually solve a Rubik's Cube behind her back, which I thought was very interesting. But she has literally tried to make this. I know. Right. She's trying to make this a very personal effort because, as she said, people trust people. And she's been very forward-facing. She's been out. She goes to conferences, she's been speaking before Congress. Her whole sort of posture is transparency and candor. And she's doing everything she can to really build relationships, not just with the private sector, but also with the public sector and with the public at large. Jamie, let's talk a little bit more about the threats themselves. You've come on the show, the team have come on the show and talked about literally voting technology in the cybersecurity context, threats online. Where is that most risk in this week of the election?

I think one of the real big challenges that not just folks like Journalistically Story have been facing, but state election officials, local election officials have been dealing with is really where people are getting their information from, how they are verifying their information, and the question of whether people will see something through social media and actually believe it. And really, it's got to be a question of trust, but verify and look at where. Look at what your state election officials are saying. Look at what they're doing. And it's going to come from everywhere. And there's already, we're already seeing it. It's online. It's on exits on TikTok, it's on YouTube. It's on all of your social media platforms, which, by the way, have taken a bit of a backward step in terms of mediating and being more involved in sort of political transparency. So just being able to trust those institutions themselves is harder these days, but it really becomes a question

that if you see something online that doesn't look right, ask, look, try to find out. Go to your state election official website and see what they're saying, particularly when it comes to the voting process and also the idea that the election is not going to be decided on the day. We may not have results on the day. Hang tight and just don't let that overwhelm you. Have faith in the institutions. To that point, many don't have faith in institutions, and that is interestingly why Italy has made it so much about herself. Correct. Sort of the face to an agency that actually doesn't have much buying. Well, hasn't, doesn't have much bark, but it's certainly trying to have more bang. Definitely. She's definitely done more in terms of being much more outward speaking, trying to push, you know, you're right, it's voluntary guidelines for a large part of industry. We've seen so many hacks and so many

compromises of critical infrastructure. And it really is a question of what the private sector can do, what organizations can do. And she's been really at the forefront of trying to get everyone on board, and she's had some success there. But it really is a question of how much everyone will meet in the middle. But also, you know, I mean, she's just... it's... she's got a long way ahead of her. Everyone is not going to sort of... you know, it's... it's really going to be a question of sitting tight and looking to see and trusting the result and waiting to see what these elections are... not going to be decided in one day. It's going to take a long time for every single vote to be counted. But that's really the integrity of the process for every single vote should be counted.

Efforts to Curb US Voter Distrust

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Bloomberg Technology

Officials are urging the electorate to trust the election process, emphasizing the security and resilience of the voting system.

Jen Easterly, the head of CISA, has centralized the agency's focus on building trust through transparency and personal engagement.

The agency has been preparing for a year to refute claims of election fraud and is actively working to address cybersecurity threats related to voting technology.

The Challenge of Information Verification in Elections

Election officials are struggling with the challenge of people finding and verifying information, particularly through social media.

The question of trust in these platforms and institutions has become more complex.

The spread of information on social media, including TikTok and YouTube, is contributing to the difficulty in establishing political transparency and trust.

If something online seems off, it's important to ask questions and seek clarification, especially regarding the voting process.

State election official websites are a reliable source for accurate information, and it's crucial to remember that election results may not be available on the day of voting.

The speaker highlights the importance of having faith in institutions, while also noting the efforts of Italy's agency to take a more prominent and outward-facing role in addressing election-related issues.

The private sector and organizations play a crucial role in addressing compromises in critical infrastructure.

The effort to get everyone on board has seen some success, but challenges remain.

The process of counting every vote and ensuring integrity will take time, emphasizing the importance of patience and trust in the outcome.