US Presidential Race Safe From Threats Despite Rising Foreign Disinformation, CISA Assures

The U.S. Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Jen Easterly, said Monday that despite the spread of misinformation, "our election infrastructure has never been more secure."

The agency revealed it has not detected any election security threats that could change the results of the upcoming presidential election. Easterly emphasized that election officials were now better equipped to ensure that the elections were "safe, secure, free and fair."

This assurance came at a time when Americans have been worried about the security of their votes, following past issues like campaign hacks, website disruptions and foreign misinformation campaigns, as even a small doubt in vote counting accuracy can lead to potential unrest across the country.

"We are working with our FBI partners on the investigation related to the Salt Typhoon activity," she said, Nextgov reported. "At this point in time, we have no reason to believe that that activity will have any material impact on the outcome of the presidential election."

Lately, several media outlets have reported an increase in foreign entities ramping up disinformation efforts, including spreading false images and videos on social media to create doubt about U.S. democracy.

For example, intelligence agencies last week linked a fake video about alleged voter fraud in Georgia to Russia, while the FBI warned about fabricated videos posing as official messages about ballot fraud.

Easterly noted that incidents like denial-of-service attacks, ballot drop box tampering, and severe weather could interrupt voting. However, she confirmed that these have not caused any huge harm to election systems.

"We know that our foreign adversaries are intent on spreading this disinformation to influence Americans to undermine the legitimacy of our elections, and we shouldn't be doing the work of our adversaries for them," Easterly said.

CISA recommends voters rely on state and local election officials to stay informed and get accurate voting and election updates.

Last month, a poll revealed that when it comes to Hispanic voters in the battleground states, Vice President Kamala Harris was leading against former President Donald Trump. A similar poll in April showed 48% support for President Joe Biden, 33% for Trump and 12% for independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.