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2024 was the Most Cyber-Secure Election to Date

Center for Internet Security cites intelligence, collaboration and preparation as keys to success

EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y.,  Nov. 25, 2024 — In the wake of an election season marked by an increase in sophisticated threats to our democracy, the Center for Internet Security, Inc. (CIS®) has deemed 2024 the most cyber-secure election to date. This is due in large part to a multi-faceted collaboration between state and local election officials, the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC®), the CIS Program for Countering Hybrid Threats, and national, state, and local law enforcement agencies across the United States.

A careful analysis of the data collected on Election Day by CIS has revealed:

  • CIS’s Situation Room operated around the clock, supporting approximately 1,300 participants.
  • There were roughly 50 reports, with over half involving scanning, password spraying, or brute force attempts. Information sharing allowed other members to block those IP addresses, preventing any significant impact from those activities.
  • Our protective DNS (web security) service blocked 138,782 attempts to connect to malicious domains:
    • Nearly 60,000 were known malware sites
    • Nearly 30,000 were command and control attack sites
    • More than 21,000 were phishing attempts
  • Reports of swatting included 5 bomb threats reported directly by members. Some state-level offices reported multiple bomb threats across their states, for more than 100 bomb threats across the U.S. targeted at election offices.

The 2024 election showcased greatly improved cyber resilience in election infrastructure. Although there were threats, none succeeded, thanks to advanced cybersecurity technology like Albert sensors, Malicious Domain Blocking and Reporting (MDBR), and the successful preparation of election officials through tabletop exercises, webinars, and increased information sharing within the EI-ISAC.

“Prior to the election, the EI-ISAC worked with members to prepare them for the threats they might encounter on or around Election Day,” said Marci Andino, Vice President of the EI-ISAC. “In addition to cyber threats, swatting, doxing and bomb threats were included in those preparations. Election officials developed plans of action and worked with local law enforcement to prepare for such events. On Election Day, some of our members reported receiving bomb threats at polling places, and reported them to the EI-ISAC, so that information could be shared with other election officials across the country.”

“In addition to the work of the EI-ISAC, CIS worked closely with groups like the Major County Sheriffs Association, Major Cities Police Chiefs, National Fusion Center Association, and National Sheriffs Association to share threat-related information and support local efforts to plan and prepare to respond to bomb threats, swatting calls, and other incidents intended to disrupt the voting process,” said John Cohen, Executive Director of the CIS Program for Countering Hybrid Threats. “Throughout Election Day, CIS worked with these same organizations to track and share information about emerging incidents. The collaboration between law enforcement and election officials resulted in effective responses and minimal disruptions at polling sites.”  

This expanded collaborative effort in 2024 has set the path for the future in protecting our elections from a range of threats that will only increase in sophistication as AI continues to evolve.

For more information on CIS’s role in securing the 2024 election, please contact [email protected].

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About CIS

The Center for Internet Security, Inc. (CIS) makes the connected world a safer place for people, businesses, and governments through our core competencies of collaboration and innovation. We are a community-driven nonprofit, responsible for the CIS Critical Security Controls® and CIS Benchmarks™ guidelines, globally recognized best practices for securing IT systems and data. We lead a global community of IT professionals to continuously evolve these standards and provide products and services to proactively safeguard against emerging threats. Our CIS Hardened Images® provide secure, on-demand, scalable computing environments in the cloud. CIS is home to the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center® (MS-ISAC®) organization, the trusted resource for cyber threat prevention, protection, response, and recovery for U.S. State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial government entities, and the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center® (EI-ISAC®) organization, which supports the rapidly changing cybersecurity needs of U.S. election offices. To learn more, visit cisecurity.org or follow us on X: @CISecurity.