News: One more day — State of the secretaries of state races— FBI, CISA call out Iran on election interference

Monday, November 2, 2020

One more day — State of the secretaries of state races— FBI, CISA call out Iran on election interference

Nov 02, 2020

With help from Eric Geller

Editor's Note: Weekly Cybersecurity is a weekly version of POLITICO Pro's daily Cybersecurity policy newsletter, Morning Cybersecurity. POLITICO Pro is a policy intelligence platform that combines the news you need with tools you can use to take action on the day's biggest stories. Act on the news with POLITICO Pro.

Quick Fix

— The presidency isn't the only race on the ballot tomorrow: A number of cyber-minded House and Senate lawmakers are up for re-election.

— Voters around the country will pick their state's next top election official, and the outcomes could influence election security decisions for years to come.

— The FBI and CISA revealed that Iranian hackers breached the systems of at least one state, heightening concerns just days before the election.

HAPPY MONDAY and welcome to Morning Cybersecurity! One. More. Day. As always, send your thoughts, feedback and especially tips to mmatishak@politico.com, and be sure to follow @POLITICOPro and @MorningCybersec. Full team info below.

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SENATE AND HOUSE RACES TO WATCH — Election Day is almost here. And while President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden battle it out at the top of the ticket, there are plenty of congressional races to watch, too.

— Virginia: Sen. Mark Warner (D) seeks a third term against Republican Daniel Gade. Warner has emphasized his bipartisan bonafides and pocketbook issues like drug prices throughout the race, rarely mentioning his role in leading the Senate Intelligence Committee's probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. As your author wrote last month , Warner, who won his 2014 race by .08 percent, is likely to get the Intelligence gavel should Democrats regain the Senate. Gade, a political newcomer, has tried to paint Warner as a career politician. While Warner is favored to win, expect the outcome to be much closer than 2018 — when Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) blew out his GOP opponent by double-digits.

— Colorado: Sen. Cory Gardner (R) works to fend off former governor John Hickelooper. Gardner, perhaps the GOP's most vulnerable incumbent, has run solidly behind Hickenlooper. Colorado and Arizona are considered Democrats' easiest pickups this cycle; the party must net at least three seats to end Senate Republicans' 53-seat majority. Gardner — who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy, and, along with Warner, co-chairs the Senate Cybersecurity Caucus — has introduced or co-sponsored dozens of cyber- and Internet of Things-related measures in his time on Capitol Hill.

— Michigan: Sen. Gary Peters (D) labors to overcome GOP challenger John James. Peters, the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee, is in a real horse race with James, a businessman, though recent polls show the one-term incumbent with a slight advantage. If re-elected — and Democrats win the majority — Peters would likely get the Homeland gavel, which he has pledged to use to restore bipartisanship to panel. The committee has been riven with mistrust over Chair Ron Johnson's (R-Wis.) various efforts to investigate Trump's political enemies, including Biden.

— New York: Republicans John Katko and Tom Reed hope to return to the House. The top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee cybersecurity subpanel, Katko has had a prolific 116th Congress, introducing and signing on to measures to bolster CISA and create the position of National Cyber Director within the White House. If re-elected , and with the GOP likely to stay in the minority in 2021, Katko is a main contender to become the top Republican on the Homeland committee. However, a poll released last month showed a tight race, with John Katko and Democrat Dana Balter tied at 45 percent. Meanwhile, Reed is in a rematch with Democratic challenger Tracy Mitrano, who boasts a considerable digital background. Reed beat Mitrano with 54 percent of the vote in 2018; a poll released early last month showed Mitrano seven points behind the incumbent.

In the States

SECRETARIES OF STATE MATTER, FOLKS — Six states will hold elections tomorrow for their secretary of state, the official who oversees their voting process. These perennially overlooked positions wield outsized power in establishing voting procedures and protecting elections from cyber threats — some of which Eric detailed over the weekend. The outcomes of these races will shape election security policies in these states and around the country.

— Missouri: Republican secretary Jay Ashcroft faces Democratic challenger Yinka Faleti. Ashcroft touts his work helping counties of all sizes upgrade their computer systems, while Faleti says he shouldn't be holding onto so much of the state's federal grant funding for future improvements. Faleti told POLITICO that he'd institute a uniform cyber training program for county clerks and replace the state's audit procedure with more sophisticated risk-limiting audits. Ashcroft says different counties need different training and opposes risk-limiting audits.

— Montana: Christi Jacobsen, the deputy secretary of state, is running against state Sen. Bryce Bennett. Bennett says that Jacobsen and her boss, Corey Stapleton, had to be "dragged into" protecting counties from hackers. If elected, he told POLITICO, he'd build better relationships with cyber experts to increase the state's defenses.

— Oregon: State senators Kim Thatcher and Shemia Fagan are running in this open contest. Oregon's vote-by-mail tradition insulates it from cyber threats associated with voting machines and e-poll books, although that doesn't mean it's completely safe. "We need to use all available resources within the government," Thatcher said, promising to work closely with federal agencies. "It seems like the hackers are always one step ahead."

— Vermont: Secretary Jim Condos, a Democrat, faces serial Republican candidate H. Brooke Paige. Condos, a five-term incumbent, gained a national profile while leading the National Association of Secretaries of State during the 2018 midterms, when officials made a concerted effort to tout improvements from 2016. Over the years, he has become a familiar face in the election security community and an outspoken advocate for increased federal funding.

— Washington: Republican secretary Kim Wyman faces state Rep. Gael Tarleton. Tarleton accuses Wyman of not helping counties spend their grant money wisely and criticizes her new voter registration database as a buggy boondoggle. Wyman says she didn't want to constrain the counties' choices and defends the new database as a major improvement with the same fixable problems as all new technology. Wyman's priorities for her next term include expanding a security operations center that provides assistance to counties. If elected, Tarleton said she'd establish new regional partnerships and security certifications for clerks, modeled on work she did as a federal contractor.

— West Virginia: Republican secretary Mac Warner is fending off a challenge from former secretary Natalie Tennant. Warner has earned security experts' ire for embracing internet voting. Tennant, whom Warner unseated in 2016, has repeatedly criticized him for working with a controversial vendor and dismissing experts' warnings about the system. "He's known for making West Virginia the laughingstock of election security," she told POLITICO. Warner says that the technology is essential to enfranchising service members, overseas residents and people with disabilities. He also touts what he describes as pioneering election security work with the state's National Guard.

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Election Security

IRAN GOES AFTER THE STATES — Iranian hackers targeted U.S. state government websites in "an intentional effort to influence and interfere" the 2020 presidential election, the FBI and CISA disclosed on Friday. CyberScoop reported earlier in the day that election websites in 10 states had been probed; the joint advisory confirmed that the hackers successfully obtained voter registration data in at least one state. There is no evidence that any votes were changed or that voter databases have been manipulated. Last month the FBI and CISA said that a Russian hacking team, known as Energetic Bear, was responsible for a wave of digital attacks on state and local government networks.

SPEAKING OF THE STATES— Two key state election official groups on Friday pledged that they, and the nation's voting systems, are primed for Election Day 2020. "The eyes of the American public and the world are on election officials as we administer free and fair elections during this unprecedented time. Rest assured, we are ready," Maggie Toulouse Oliver, National Association of Secretaries of State President and New Mexico Secretary of State, said in a statement.

Lori Augino, the National Association of State Election Directors President and Director of Elections for the Washington Secretary of State, urged voters and the media to be "diligent in the face of election misinformation. Think critically about the source of information before repeating or retweeting it." The groups underscored that election night results are always unofficial and that final results take time, which is standard for every election.

In Congress

ELECTION SECURITY DEMANDS — Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) on Friday introduced legislation that would require the Director of National Intelligence to submit annual reports on pre-election threats to federal elections to Congress and state election officials. The measure, dubbed the Election Security Assessments Act, comes after DNI John Ratcliffe earlier this year vowed to rein back election security briefings to Capitol Hill, only to reverse course and announce he would continue to brief congressional leaders and the Senate and House intelligence committees.

TWEET OF THE WEEKEND — We have spoken.

QUICK BYTES

— Lawfare: Preparing for Election Night: Counting and Reporting the Vote in Battleground States.

— DHS awarded $2 million to a consortium to develop a plan that CISA can execute to build a national network of cybersecurity technical institutes.

— FireEye offers some perspective on the threat of ransomware.

— NSA's former general counsel opines that America's elections are more secure than you think.

— InsideCybersecurity: DoD rule establishes cyber compliance regime ahead of full CMMC implementation.

— Marriott fined about $24 million for a 2018 hack that exposed data of 339 million guests.

That's all for today.

Stay in touch with the whole team: Eric Geller (egeller@politico.com, @ericgeller); Bob King (bking@politico.com, @bkingdc); Martin Matishak (mmatishak@politico.com, @martinmatishak); and Heidi Vogt (hvogt@politico.com, @heidivogt).