Republicans in Congress are moving ahead with two pieces of legislation this week that would dramatically reshape the nation’s election laws. Together, the SAVE America Act and MEGA Act would shift key voter certification powers to the executive branch, require stricter proof of citizenship for voter registration, and allow states to more easily access federal…
Category: Election Security
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Election Assistance Commission, Election Security, Emerging Tech, Global Security News, HAVA
As feds pull back, states look inward for election security support
It’s no secret that the Trump administration has radically altered the federal government’s relationship with state election officials since being sworn into power last year. While his first term included the creation of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the distribution of hundreds of millions in congressional funding sent to help states upgrade election…
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Election Assistance Commission, Election Security, Emerging Tech, Global Security News, HAVA
As feds pull back, states look inward for election security support
It’s no secret that the Trump administration has radically altered the federal government’s relationship with state election officials since being sworn into power last year. While his first term included the creation of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the distribution of hundreds of millions in congressional funding sent to help states upgrade election…
disinformation, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, National Association of Secretaries of State, North America
Lawmakers, election officials blast Trump administration after Fulton County raid
Following a federal raid on Fulton County, Georgia’s Elections Office, lawmakers and state election officials sharply criticized the Trump administration, accusing the White House of chasing baseless internet conspiracy theories about fraud in the 2020 election. Officials also warned the raid could set a precedent for similar federal actions targeting the 2026 midterm elections. According…
Cybersecurity, Department of Justice, election, Election Security, Global Security News, Government
Federal court dismisses Trump DOJ lawsuit seeking California voter data
A federal court has thrown out a lawsuit brought by the Trump administration attempting to force the state of California to turn over sensitive voter data. The decision, issued by the U.S. Central District Court of Southern California, is a major setback to the federal government’s massive data collection effort on American voters, and its…
AI, disinformation, Election Security, Geopolitics, Global Security News, Government, North America
AI, voting machine conspiracies fill information vacuum around Venezuela operation
The surprise raid by U.S. armed forces and law enforcement agencies in Caracas, Venezuela had observers around the world scouring social media and news for updates on an operation that saw Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro and his wife captured and flown to the United States to face criminal charges. The Trump administration initially offered few…
Cybersecurity, Department of Justice (DOJ), Election Security, Global Security News, Government
DOJ sues Fulton County over 2020 voter data
The Department of Justice is suing Fulton County, Georgia and its election clerk over the county’s refusal to hand over voter records, part of a larger nationwide project to collect as much election and voter information as possible from state and local governments ahead of the 2026 and 2028 elections. In a lawsuit announced Thursday,…
Cybersecurity, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, Tina Peters
Trump moves to pardon Colorado election clerk Tina Peters, even though he can’t
President Donald Trump announced Thursday his intention to issue a federal pardon for an individual convicted in connection with efforts related to challenging the 2020 election results. However, on this occasion, the person in question will remain behind bars. In a statement on Truth Social, Trump said he was pardoning Tina Peters, a former Mesa County…
Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Election Security, Global Security News, Government, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), NLets
Congressional Dems press governors to block feds from accessing state DMV data
Forty Democratic members of the House and Senate issued a joint letter Wednesday to 19 states led by Democratic governors, urging them to block Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and other federal agencies from accessing driver’s license and registration data in their states. The letter, led by Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y.,…
Commentary, Cybersecurity, Election Security, Exploits, Global Security News, Government, Policy
How the F5 breach, CISA job cuts, and a government shutdown are eroding U.S. cyber readiness
The federal cybersecurity system is weathering a series of crises that couldn’t have arrived at a worse time. The F5 security breach from Oct. 15, the proposed elimination of more than 1,000 jobs at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the ongoing federal government shutdown have created a perfect storm that is not…
Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Election Security, Global Security News, Government, North America
Government watchdog sues DHS over election official’s records
A nonprofit government watchdog group is suing the Department of Homeland Security, alleging that department officials have delayed and denied legitimate public information requests regarding the hiring of Heather Honey. Honey was hired by DHS earlier this year and given the title “Deputy Assistant Secretary for Elections Integrity,” a change from past administrations, which have…
Congress, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, Policy, Uncategorized
Dems introduce bill to halt mass voter roll purges
The Trump administration wants your voter data. Since President Donald Trump took office in January, the Department of Justice has made an ambitious effort to collect sensitive voter data from all 50 states, including information that one election expert described as “the holy trinity” of identity theft: Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and dates…
Cybersecurity, Department of Justice, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, privacy
Voting groups ask court for immediate halt to Trump admin’s SAVE database overhaul
Voting rights groups are asking a court to block an ongoing Trump administration effort to merge disparate federal and state voter data into a massive citizenship and voter fraud database. Last week, the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and five individuals sued the federal government in D.C. District Court, saying…
Cybersecurity, Department of Justice, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, privacy
Voting groups ask court for immediate halt to Trump admin’s SAVE database overhaul
Voting rights groups are asking a court to block an ongoing Trump administration effort to merge disparate federal and state voter data into a massive citizenship and voter fraud database. Last week, the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and five individuals sued the federal government in D.C. District Court, saying…
Cybersecurity, Department of Justice, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, privacy
Voting groups ask court for immediate halt to Trump admin’s SAVE database overhaul
Voting rights groups are asking a court to block an ongoing Trump administration effort to merge disparate federal and state voter data into a massive citizenship and voter fraud database. Last week, the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and five individuals sued the federal government in D.C. District Court, saying…
Cybersecurity, Department of Justice, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, privacy
Voting groups ask court for immediate halt to Trump admin’s SAVE database overhaul
Voting rights groups are asking a court to block an ongoing Trump administration effort to merge disparate federal and state voter data into a massive citizenship and voter fraud database. Last week, the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and five individuals sued the federal government in D.C. District Court, saying…
Cybersecurity, Department of Justice, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, privacy
Voting groups ask court for immediate halt to Trump admin’s SAVE database overhaul
Voting rights groups are asking a court to block an ongoing Trump administration effort to merge disparate federal and state voter data into a massive citizenship and voter fraud database. Last week, the League of Women Voters, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and five individuals sued the federal government in D.C. District Court, saying…
Election Security, Europe, Geopolitics, Global Security News, Government, privacy
German government says it will oppose EU mass-scanning proposal
Encryption lives on in Europe. For now. The German government has said it will oppose a piece of European Union legislation later this month that would subject phones and other devices to mass scanning — prior to encryption — by the government for evidence of child sexual abuse material. Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig…
Election Security, Europe, Geopolitics, Global Security News, Government, privacy
German government says it will oppose EU mass-scanning proposal
Encryption lives on in Europe. For now. The German government has said it will oppose a piece of European Union legislation later this month that would subject phones and other devices to mass scanning — prior to encryption — by the government for evidence of child sexual abuse material. Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig…
Election Security, Europe, Geopolitics, Global Security News, Government, privacy
German government says it will oppose EU mass-scanning proposal
Encryption lives on in Europe. For now. The German government has said it will oppose a piece of European Union legislation later this month that would subject phones and other devices to mass scanning — prior to encryption — by the government for evidence of child sexual abuse material. Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig…
Election Security, Europe, Geopolitics, Global Security News, Government, privacy
German government says it will oppose EU mass-scanning proposal
Encryption lives on in Europe. For now. The German government has said it will oppose a piece of European Union legislation later this month that would subject phones and other devices to mass scanning — prior to encryption — by the government for evidence of child sexual abuse material. Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig…
Election Security, Europe, Geopolitics, Global Security News, Government, privacy
German government says it will oppose EU mass-scanning proposal
Encryption lives on in Europe. For now. The German government has said it will oppose a piece of European Union legislation later this month that would subject phones and other devices to mass scanning — prior to encryption — by the government for evidence of child sexual abuse material. Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig…
Election Assistance Commission, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, North America, Uncategorized
Trump administration setting the stage for elections power grab, voting rights group warns
Election officials should brace for direct attacks from the Trump administration and its state GOP allies on the integrity of U.S. elections — and plan for the possibility that federal agencies once charged with protecting elections will leverage their authorities to interfere in the process, a voting rights nonprofit warned. In a report released Wednesday,…
Congress, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, SAVE Act
Senate Democrats call Trump admin’s focus on state voter rolls a pretext for disenfranchisement
As the Trump administration has sought to muscle through changes to election laws and rules across the country, Democrats in Congress have steadily escalated their concerns about the potential for disenfranchisement. At a public forum Wednesday held by Democratic lawmakers focused on elections and voter suppression, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., ranking member on the Senate…
Asia Pacific, CISA, Cybersecurity, Election Security, Global Security News, Government
After website hack, Arizona election officials unload on Trump’s CISA
Arizona election officials say a hack targeting a statewide online portal for political candidates resulted in the defacement and replacement of multiple candidate photos with the late Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. While officials say the threat is contained and the vulnerability has been fixed, they also blasted the lack of support they’ve received from the…
Congress, Cybersecurity, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, Uncategorized
Senate Democrats seek answers on Trump overhaul of immigrant database to find noncitizen voters
As the Department of Homeland Security seeks to transform a federal database for immigrant benefits into a supercharged database to search for noncitizen voters, a trio of Democratic senators are pressing the department for more information. Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on…
budget, Congress, critical infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Department of Government Efficency, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Election Security, Energy Security and Emergency Response, FEMA, Financial, Global Security News, Government, National Cyber Director, Office of Cybersecurity Energy Security and Emergency Response, Policy, Workforce
Trump budget proposal would slash more than 1,000 CISA jobs
The fiscal 2026 budget proposal President Donald Trump unveiled last week would make deep cuts to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency workforce, with a goal of eliminating 1,083 positions and chopping its budget by $495 million, to $2.4 billion. That’s a slightly deeper total cut than an earlier budget outline forecast. And a new…
budget, Congress, critical infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Department of Government Efficency, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Election Security, Energy Security and Emergency Response, FEMA, Financial, Global Security News, Government, National Cyber Director, Office of Cybersecurity Energy Security and Emergency Response, Policy, Workforce
Trump budget proposal would slash more than 1,000 CISA jobs
The fiscal 2026 budget proposal President Donald Trump unveiled last week would make deep cuts to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency workforce, with a goal of eliminating 1,083 positions and chopping its budget by $495 million, to $2.4 billion. That’s a slightly deeper total cut than an earlier budget outline forecast. And a new…
budget, Congress, critical infrastructure, Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Department of Government Efficency, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Election Security, Energy Security and Emergency Response, FEMA, Financial, Global Security News, Government, National Cyber Director, Office of Cybersecurity Energy Security and Emergency Response, Policy, Workforce
Trump budget proposal would slash more than 1,000 CISA jobs
The fiscal 2026 budget proposal President Donald Trump unveiled last week would make deep cuts to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency workforce, with a goal of eliminating 1,083 positions and chopping its budget by $495 million, to $2.4 billion. That’s a slightly deeper total cut than an earlier budget outline forecast. And a new…
Congress, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, grants, HAVA
State and local election officials plead with Congress for election security funding
As the Trump administration takes a hatchet to the federal government’s election security work and attempts to place conditions on funding to states, state and local election officials are pleading with lawmakers to provide robust support they say is crucial to keeping American elections secure. In a letter sent to leaders on the House and…
budget, CISA, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), disinformation, Election Security, Gary Peters, Global Security News, Government, House Appropriations Committee, information sharing, Lauren Underwood, misinformation, Money, Senate Appropriations Committee
Sen. Murphy: Trump administration has ‘illegally gutted funding for cybersecurity’
Another top appropriations Democrat criticized budget cuts affecting the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, saying the Trump administration has “illegally gutted funding for cybersecurity.” Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, made his remarks Thursday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at a hearing on…
Cybersecurity, election, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, U.S. courts, voting systems
Trump calls on Colorado to release election-denying clerk from jail
President Donald Trump is calling on Colorado state officials to release Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk serving a nine-year prison sentence for stealing and sharing sensitive voting system data in a failed attempt to bolster Trump’s claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. In a Truth Social post Monday, Trump…
Election Assistance Commission, Election Security, Global Security News, North America, voting systems
Judge tosses citizenship provisions in Trump elections order
A federal court partially blocked a Trump administration executive order Thursday that seeks to impose requirements on states to use the White House’s definition of “documentary proof” of citizenship, inhibit mail voting and other election-related elements by threatening to withhold federal funding. The order was subject to multiple lawsuits from Democratic Party organizations as well…
Election Assistance Commission, Election Security, Global Security News
Democratic groups sue to block Trump administration’s elections order
The Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its elections executive order, arguing the president lacks the constitutional authority to regulate elections by fiat. The suit, filed Monday in the District of Columbia District Court, was brought by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the…
Donald Trump, election, Election Assistance Commission, Election Security, Global Security News, Government
Trump issues executive order seeking greater federal control of elections
President Donald Trump issued an executive order Tuesday that threatens states with the loss of federal election grants unless they comply with a broad list of requirements concerning the administration of elections. The order makes numerous inaccurate and misleading claims about American elections, many of which mirror older allegations that Trump made regularly on the…
CISA, Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Election Security, Global Security News, Government, Karen Evans, Sean Cairncross, Sean Plankey, Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Trump Administration, Workforce
Sean Plankey picked by Trump to be CISA director
President Donald Trump nominated Sean Plankey to head the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Committee on Tuesday, the last major piece to fall into place for cybersecurity leadership in his administration. Plankey served in the first Trump administration, holding a few posts with cyber responsibilities. He was the principal deputy assistant secretary for the Energy Department’s…
CISA, Cybersecurity, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), disinformation, Election Security, Global Security News, Government, Trump Administration
CISA completed its election security review. It won’t make the results public
When the Trump administration began sidelining and laying off personnel at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, it started by targeting employees who worked on election security and disinformation. At the same time, the Department Homeland Security announced it would conduct a comprehensive review of CISA’s election security mission. This week, the agency confirmed that…
china, CISA, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Department of Government Efficency, disinformation, Election Security, Elon Musk, Global Security News, Government, misinformation, Social Security Administration, Trump Administration, Twitter, Workforce
No, that’s not the acting head of the Social Security Administration. That’s a former CISA employee.
A longtime former employee of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, an agency in the midst of curtailing its anti-misinformation and disinformation work under President Donald Trump, has found himself being misidentified online as a key figure in another Trump administration battle. On social media and in some news outlets, Ross Foard, a former CISA…
Asia Pacific, Cybersecurity, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), disinformation, Election Security, Global Security News, Government
CISA election, disinformation officials placed on administrative leave, sources say
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency placed several members of its election security group on administrative leave last week, multiple sources familiar with the situation told CyberScoop. According to one source, the moves happened Thursday and Friday of last week and were targeted at employees focused on CISA’s mis-, dis- and malinformation teams. The moves…
disinformation, Election Security, Emerging Tech, Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), Global Security News, Government, Policy, Russia, Trump Administration
DOJ disbands foreign influence task force, limits scope of FARA prosecutions
One of the first acts taken by Pam Bondi after being sworn in as attorney general was to disband an FBI task force that countered the influence of adversarial foreign governments on American politics. In a memo issued Wednesday, Bondi wrote that the Department of Justice would be shifting resources in its National Security Division,…
AI, Election Security, Global Security News, lawsuit, Microsoft, North America, Technology
Microsoft moves to disrupt hacking-as-a-service scheme that’s bypassing AI safety measures
Microsoft is petitioning a Virginia court to seize software and shut down internet infrastructure that they allege is being used by a group of foreign cybercriminals to bypass safety guidelines for generative AI systems. In a filing with the Eastern District Court of Virginia, Microsoft brought a lawsuit against ten individuals for using stolen credentials…