With the November 2024 election approaching, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a public service announcement to remind voters that distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are not a concern for election integrity and security.
DDoS attacks, which flood a server with traffic to prevent access, are expected to continue to impact Americans during the lead-up to the election, the Federal agencies said.
The attacks will not impact the voting process itself but could “disrupt the availability of some election-related functions” such as finding information on polling locations, candidates, campaigns, and voter registration among “unofficial election night reporting.”
“With Election Day less than 100 days away, it is important to help put into context some of the incidents the American public may see during the election cycle that, while potentially causing some minor disruptions, will not fundamentally impact the security or integrity of the democratic process,” said Cait Conley, a senior advisor at CISA.
“It is important to talk about these potential issues now, because nefarious actors, like our foreign adversaries or cybercriminals, could use DDoS incidents to cast doubt on the election systems or processes,” Conley continued. “An informed public is key to neutralizing the impact of foreign influence operations and disinformation, which is why we put out this advisory on what a DDoS attack could – and couldn’t – do.”
During the 2022 mid-term elections, multiple Mississippi websites were hit by DDoS attacks which were later claimed by a pro-Russian hacker group. A Google research group said that during the 2022 election cycle, DDoS and other cyberattacks spiked in August 2022 and underwent a “rapid decline” in mid-November.
The FBI and CISA said they have no evidence that a DDoS attack has compromised or prevented electoral processes.
The announcement said if a DDoS attack occurs, alternatives to sharing election information include traditional news outlets, direct messaging to voters, and other “backup resources.”
“This warning highlights the importance for voters to seek out information about how to vote prior to Election Day and demonstrates the FBI’s and CISA’s continued commitment to sharing information with the public about potential cyber threats,” said Cynthia Kaiser, the deputy assistant director of the FBI.
Additional recommendations for voters provided by the FBI and CISA include seeking information about results, registration, polling locations, and voting by mail from state and local election officials. They also recommended contacting state or local election officials if their official website is down and encouraged voters to remember that DDoS attacks don’t impact the electoral systems.
