CSIS Election Cybersecurity Scorecard: The Outlook for 2018, 2020 and Beyond

The 2016 election was a wake-up call for the United States that our largely digitized election systems are vulnerable. The Russian government targeted US campaigns, candidates, and election systems in a series of coordinated cyber attacks and influence operations intended to undermine confidence in American democracy.

In the last two years, federal, state and local election officials have made significant efforts to secure our election infrastructure and defend our democracy. Basic cybersecurity best practices have been implemented across most of our 50 states, and more than $800 million has been allocated by federal and state officials to harden election systems against cyber threats. We are better prepared in 2018 to deal with the threat of foreign election interference, but there is much more to be done to ensure the integrity and resilience of our elections against cyber threats for 2020 and beyond.

The CSIS Strategic Technologies Program has created an Election Security Scorecard assessing the current threats and vulnerabilities to our upcoming elections, and has identified concrete steps for securing the 2020 presidential election.