Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson invited states to ask for help in protecting their election systems from cyberattacks, saying Friday that there is a real danger of hacks.
Mr. Johnson, who earlier this summer had said that elections might have to be declared critical infrastructure similar to the nation’s power grid, insisted his team won’t try to push state officials out of the way, and Homeland Security assistance is “limited to support only.”
He said a number of states have already asked for help, and he would “strongly encourage” others to ask as well.
“We must face the reality that cyber intrusions and attacks in this country are increasingly sophisticated, from a range of increasingly capable actors that include nation-states, cyber hacktivists and criminals. In this environment, we must be vigilant,” he said.
Mr. Johnson offered help in remotely scanning state and local officials’ systems to try to detect hack attempts, and also said teams can be deployed for on-site vulnerability assessments. He also encouraged officials to report any hacks they detect to the federal cybersecurity incident response center.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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