After the Iowa caucus debacle and before the nation's first primary vote in New Hampshire, a cybersecurity firm ran an election hacking simulation Friday for law enforcement, DHS officials, FBI employees, and Secret Service members to prepare for the possibility of election interference.
Although New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner says the state's paper ballot should be safe, stating: "You can't hack this pencil.".
But Cybereason's Chief Information Security Officer Israel Barak told Cheddar, "When you look at the traditional ways of thinking about election meddling risks, people are used to thinking about manipulating voter registration holes or hacking electronic machines."
"We want to bring to light the fact there are a plethora of ways to affect the outcome of elections and public trust in the electoral process," he added.
Pencils may be protected, but trust is not.
"We got a reminder of the fragility of American trust during the Democratic [Iowa caucus]," Barak, a cyber defense expert, said. He called it a "failure in election support."
Even before the meltdown in Iowa, Gardner's office stepped up security ahead of the primary, investing in new protective software and cybersecurity training to monitor online threats.
"At the end of the day, the fact that the state is using paper ballots helps reduce certain types of risks, but it doesn't eliminate the risk," he said.
Shelby Pierson, the nation's first intelligence community executions threats executive, agrees. She told NPR threats may expand beyond those that Russia engaged inthe 2016 election.
<i>Courtesy: Cybereason</i>
The simulation concluded in New Hampshire involved two teams — one composed of law enforcement officials at the local, state, and federal levels and another representing hackers and cybersecurity professionals — that are presented with scenarios that include new risks to voting security.
Barak said the simulation does not focus on election support systems, like ballots, but on other methods through which bad actors may seek to creatively affect voting, such as creating gridlock on roadways to suppress voters, which could be acutely problematic in swing states or cities where small numbers of voters may affect elections.
He worries a "failure of imagination" may "be our downfall."
The preparedness exercises won't end after Tuesday's primary. Barak says there are plans to run additional exercises throughout local, state, primary, and federal elections.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Wednesday for a second time this year as it seeks to shore up economic growth and hiring even as inflation stays elevated. The move comes amid a fraught time for the central bank, with hiring sluggish and yet inflation stuck above the Fed’s 2% target. Compounding its challenges, the central bank is navigating without much of the economic data it typically relies on from the government. The Fed has signaled it may reduce its key rate again in December but the data drought raises the uncertainty around its next moves. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that there were “strongly differing views” at the central bank's policy meeting about to proceed going forward.
U.S. and Chinese officials say a trade deal between the world’s two largest economies is drawing closer. The sides have reached an initial consensus for President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to aim to finalize during their high-stakes meeting Thursday in South Korea. Any agreement would be a relief to international markets. Trump's treasury secretary says discussions with China yielded preliminary agreements to stop the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from coming into the United States. Scott Bessent also says Beijing would make “substantial” purchases of soybean and other agricultural products while putting off export controls on rare earth elements needed for advanced technologies.
The White House budget office says mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.
President Donald Trump says “there seems to be no reason” to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of an upcoming trip to South Korea after China restricted exports of rare earths needed for American industry. The Republican president suggested Friday he was looking at a “massive increase” of import taxes on Chinese products in response to Xi’s moves. Trump says one of the policies the U.S. is calculating is "a massive increase of Tariffs on Chinese products coming into the United States." A monthslong calm on Wall Street was shattered, with U.S. stocks falling on the news. The Chinese Embassy in Washington hasn't responded to an Associated Press request for comment.
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
From Wall Street trading floors to the Federal Reserve to economists sipping coffee in their home offices, the first Friday morning of the month typically brings a quiet hush around 8:30 a.m. eastern, as everyone awaits the Labor Department’s monthly jobs report.
