More on Securing the Election

Over at the Richmond Times-Dispatch I have an op-ed entitled Act Now To Prevent Election Cyberattack. In it, I argue that - in 9/11 parlance - "the system is blinking red" and we should listen to the technical security experts who are warning that more aggressive action and coordination is needed to secure the election and maintain confidence in its integrity. Lawfare contributors all, security experts Bruce Schneier, Herb Lin and Nicholas Weaver have been sounding the alarm. Here's a snippet of my piece:

Here’s the good news: We know the where and when. While a threat to our election system is very different than the harm to life that took place on 9/11 and in other terrorist attacks since, the integrity of our voting process is important, and needs to be protected. There is time to address this threat, whether it is posed by a nation-state that wants to interfere with our election or by bad actors who now know we are vulnerable and just want to cause havoc.

Let’s not staff the commission and write the report years after the infamous “election of 2016.” With just three months before the election, there is not a lot of time, but there is enough time. We can secure our election in order to ensure that — no matter the outcome — no one can claim that it was rigged from the inside or manipulated from the outside.