Idaho conducts testing and plans to hire a cybersecurity specialist for elections

Idaho Secretary of State Lawerence Denney said last week he would like to hire a cybersecurity specialist for his office to lead the state’s efforts to repel attempts to hack its election infrastructure. The new position would give Denney’s agency a full-time worker who can monitor and respond to threats against the state’s voter registration database and coordinate with clerks and other officials across Idaho’s 44 counties.

Last week, clerks and election supervisors gathered in Boise for a one-day exercise that included DHS, the Idaho National Guard and state Chief Information Security Officer Lance Wyatt. The exercise followed a playbook developed by Defending Digital Democracy, a program at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, that simulates cyberattacks against election systems.

Written by Benjamin Freed