Further election security improvements sought

The Hill reports that despite the overall success of the midterm elections amid various threats including cyberattacks, foreign interference, insider threats, disinformation, and physical threats against election workers experts have noted that more still could be done to beef up election security. "This was a remarkably smooth election given everything that we were facing as a country," said Brennan Center Elections and Government Program Senior Director Lawrence Norden. Foreign threats have not impacted the U.S. midterms owing to clear messaging by the U.S. Cyber Command against adversaries, according to University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy and Security Founding Director David Hickton, who added that active threat sharing between federal, state, and local officials have also helped curb election security threats. Meanwhile, election officials' efforts in educating voters on how to determine false information have been praised by former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Chris Krebs. However, more funding should still be allocated toward fighting cyber threats, insider threats, and disinformation, with Norden calling for more immediate upgrades of outdated voting machines, as well as updates of voter registration databases. "We need to double down in terms of what we've been doing to ensure that we have a smooth 2024 election," said Norden.