House Oversight Committee to hold hearing into cyber threats to electoral system
Today, the US Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a full house hearing to discuss cybersecurity protections for American electoral systems.
This hearing is in response to serious concerns that Russia is threatening the legitimacy of American elections by hacking electronic voting systems. Tom Burt, Microsoft’s vice president for customer security recently reported that Russian intelligence agents attempted to gain information about three midterm electoral candidates by creating a false Microsoft domain. In preparation for November’s midterm congressional elections, $380 million has already been allocated for upgrading the security of voting databases which were reportedly targeted by Russian agents—and in some cases successfully hacked.
Expect recommendations from the hearing to include regular audits of votes, security software upgrades and paper ballots. The findings of the hearing may also further pressure US President Donald Trump to acknowledge and forcefully address Russia’s electoral interference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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