CISA, FBI, and ODNI Release Guidance for Securing Election Infrastructure Against the Tactics of Foreign Malign Influence Operations
WASHINGTON – Today, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released Securing Election Infrastructure Against the Tactics of Foreign Malign Influence Operations, a guidance document that details the latest tactics employed in foreign malign influence operations to shape U.S. policies, decisions, and discourse and could be used to target America’s election infrastructure.
The product discusses popular tactics used in foreign malign influence operations, provides recent examples, and recommends potential mitigations for election infrastructure stakeholders. While many of these tactics are not new, recent advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology have made it much easier and cheaper to generate and spread convincing foreign malign influence content.
“The elections process is the golden thread of American democracy, which is why our foreign adversaries deliberately target our elections infrastructure with their influence operations. Defending our democratic process is the responsibility of all of us,” said CISA Senior Advisor Cait Conley. “CISA is committed to doing its part to ensure these officials – and the American public – don’t have to fight this battle alone. We will continue to work with the election community to ensure they have the tools and information they need to run safe and secure elections in 2024 and beyond.
“The FBI and its partners work diligently every day to disrupt foreign malign influence operations targeting our democratic institutions,” said Acting Assistant Director Joseph Rothrock of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division. “We are putting out this guide because our strategy in combatting this threat starts with awareness and collaboration. We will continue to relentlessly pursue bad actors looking to disrupt our election infrastructure.”
“Foreign actors continue to pursue efforts aimed at sowing discord among the American people, with the ultimate goal of eroding confidence in our democratic institutions,” said ODNI Foreign Malign Influence Center Director Jessica Brandt. “The normalization of influence activities, combined with the rise of new technologies, increasingly presents a whole-of-society challenge for the Intelligence Community to address alongside the broader U.S. Government, industry, and civil society.”
View the Securing Election Infrastructure Against the Tactics of Foreign Malign Influence Operations guide.
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As the nation’s cyber defense agency and national coordinator for critical infrastructure security, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency leads the national effort to understand, manage, and reduce risk to the digital and physical infrastructure Americans rely on every hour of every day.
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