State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Election results websites have capacity to create ‘noise’

StateScoop: The websites on which local and state election officials will start posting unofficial vote totals Tuesday night will be heavily depended upon by the public to see which candidates are winning and losing, but they remain prone to potential disruptions that could create confusion about the election, a founder of an ethical-hacking firm told StateScoop.

Election and cybersecurity officials have issued ample warnings that results-reporting websites could be targeted by ransomware, defacement or distributed-denial-of-service attacks — or buckle under surges of legitimate network activity. But the best option for voters is to “tune out the noise,” said Casey Ellis, the founder and chief technology officer of Bugcrowd.

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