After the Florida election hacking four years ago, millions of dollars were given to US states to help protect their election systems from future attacks. How that money was spent is a secret, as election supervisors were forced to sign confidentiality agreements before they could get the money. Cybersecurity is one area where a lot of money has really been invested, as you’ll see in more detail below, and we can see why.
Six months ago, USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida broadly reported that the money went to both cybersecurity and improving physical security.
Public records released by USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida help shed a little more light on how election supervisors spent their share of the $14.6 million:
- The largest share – about $8 million – went to high-tech gadgetry to secure the voter database, upgrade aging network systems and servers, and improve the security of the election system.
- $3.6 million was used to purchase electronic poll books that help protect voter data and allow for quick voter verification, protecting against people voting twice.
- And $2.4 million went to bolster physical security. One county purchased bulletproof panels for its election building, and seven counties purchased “bollards,” the concrete pillars that prevent cars from crashing into building entrances.
Did it work? “Clearly. So far it’s worked because no one has had any intrusions,” said Mark Earley, Leon County elections chief and vice president of the Florida Supervisors Association.
State and federal officials continue to say that the 2016 breaches did not affect actual votes or change the outcome of that year's election. The 2018 and March 2020 general elections were not affected by hacking or spear-phishing attempts.
Hackers are a classic election threat. A Pew Research Center survey this month found that 75% of Americans still believe that Russia or other foreign governments are likely to interfere in the 2020 presidential election and don't believe the government is doing enough to protect American elections.
Cybersecurity
Millions were spent on high-tech gadgetry to ensure the smooth running of the elections without glitches – servers, laptops, firewalls, switches, modems, scanners, printers, paper, ink, batteries and backup systems were purchased.
Other counties — including Brevard, Escambia, Marion and Leon — have chosen not to spend money on poll books. Instead, they have spent the bulk of their grants on cybersecurity, specifically network and server upgrades, as well as physical security upgrades like security cameras.
The way counties spent money was audited by the Department of Elections to identify deficiencies in their systems. The state refused to provide reporters with those records, saying they fell under security exceptions to public records laws.
It's important to update your network frequently, said Brett Callow, cybersecurity threat analyst at Emsisoft.
"Security patches may no longer be available for older servers and hardware, which can be a big problem," Callow said.
Outdated security updates, firewalls and other threats make networks particularly vulnerable to ransomware attacks, he said.
“Ransomware groups often try to encrypt or delete backups to prevent organizations from using them to restore their data, but newer backup systems may be less susceptible to this,” he said.
Ransomware is considered a new and imminent threat to the upcoming general election, experts said. In recent years, several cities, counties and school boards have fallen victim to ransomware attacks.
