Week #14

Week # 14

Gregorio Marrero

[Institutional Affiliation(s)]

Author Note

Are the American Elections safe from Cyber Intrusions?

Are the American Elections safe from Cyber Intrusions?

After a controversial discussion and the media hype about the foreign powers meddling in the conductions of the 2016 US General Elections, the US Government will not be taking any sort of chances in the affairs of 2020 General Elections. Several measures are taken by the government after the release of the Senate Intelligence report that confirms the rumors CITATION Sen19 \l 1033 (Mark Warner, 2019). These include increased coordination among the state, federal and local levels of government. The federal government is also trying to develop a consensus in Congress about the implication of strict measures to control online election information to prevent likely cyber intrusions. In a report by the Senators Burr and Warner, details are provided that prove that Russians have indeed meddled in the affairs of US general elections. Many believe that the Kremlin was indirectly involved in the rigging of the US general elections to spread discord among the general population and create a doubt in the integrity of the electoral process. Now, in regards to the coming general elections, the intelligence apparatus is of the view that the meddling elements are already at work, making new and diverse strategies to undermine the electoral process.

In the San Mateo Grand Jury Report, two possibilities are highlighted that can worthy of attention for the people responsible for the security of the 2020 General Elections CITATION Gra19 \l 1033 (GrandJury, 2018-19). The first possibility is the hacking of the social media accounts of the concerned county’s residents, and then their use in spreading false flag information regarding the result of the elections. The second possibility is a direct attack on the election website before the conduction of the election so that false voting instructions may be circulated. In the process, the votes will be either made invalid or hard to post in the ballots. Either way, there will be voter suppression. In short, there may be no time to pass last-minute legislation in the Capitol, but the US intelligence will keep its eyes and ears everywhere to make sure that the same problems do not happen in the 2020 General Elections.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY GrandJury. (2018-19). Security of Election Announcements. San Mateo: County Civil Court. Retrieved from https://www.sanmateocourt.org/documents/grand_jury/2018/elections.pdf

Mark Warner, R. B. (2019). Report if the Select Committee on Intelligence of US Senate after Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interferences in the 2016 US Elections. Federal Government, Senate Intelligence Committee. Washington DC: US Senate. Retrieved from https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume1.pdf