SPRINGFIELD, Ill. \u2014 Local election officials hoping to use federal cybersecurity funding to upgrade Illinois\u2019 decades-old voting machines will have to keep waiting, as the State Board of Elections announced that the majority of the $13.9 million coming into the state will be funneled to training and bolstering cyber defenses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After Russian hackers breached 76,000 active voter registration records in 2016, State Board of Elections spokesman Matt Dietrich said Illinois became the cybersecurity \u201cposter child,\u201d representing the need to secure the country\u2019s vulnerable elections systems. The Prairie State announced its databases were hacked months before the Department of Homeland Security confirmed Russian agents also targeted 20 more states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Congress approved $380 million for states to secure their elections, which the Election Assistance Commission said should be used to expand post-election audits, improve cybersecurity training and replace paperless voting machines. Election officials agree paperless machines are much less vulnerable to hacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because Illinois already conducts audits and uses machines with paper trails, the state will have to devote most of its $13.9 million sum on cybersecurity upgrades and training. That puts a damper on the state\u2019s initial plans to allow local officials to use some of the money to upgrade some of their deteriorating voting machines, many of which were initially purchased as early as 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dietrich confirmed the main use of its federal funding will be to \u201cmake sure that we at the state level and the local election authorities are using the best cybersecurity practices to make sure that voter registration data is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s in line with legislation recently signed by the governor, which requires the state board of elections to use at least half of the money on a so-called Cyber Navigator Program. The program, which is being finalized, will provide training and grants to local election officials. It will also put all participating counties on a centralized, more secure internet network. The state will also conduct risk assessments of each participating county to ensure that clerks are using best practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The state board of elections will also keep $1.2 million which will be used to fortify voter registration databases and hire a fulltime cybersecurity expert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The planned use for the funds may come as a shock to local officials who have been largely left in the dark about how they can use their grants. Many still hope they can use the money to replace their decades-old voting equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Logan County Clerk Sally Turner said local clerks have yet to see any language as to how the state board interprets definitions of \u201ccybersecurity,\u201d and whether new voting machines would fall under the term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe all need new election equipment and I think we\u2019re all hopeful that our state government recognizes the importance of this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Local officials have complained that equipment can break down or, in some instances, record the wrong vote. And, it\u2019s becoming harder to find replacement parts for malfunctioning machines, many of which were purchased in 2004.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dietrich said the state still hopes for further funding down the line for voting machines, noting that \u201cthis year\u2019s allotment was pretty small.\u201d The $13.9 million is only a fraction of the $147 million the state saw more than a decade ago from the federal Help America Vote Act, which allowed states to overhaul their voting systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But further funding may not come soon. Congress denied an additional $380 million in election grants during an appropriations hearing last week, money Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois said was needed to replace machines \u201cnot equipped to handle modern-day cybersecurity software.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While more funding may not be in the near future, state and local officials agree that this round of funding is still an important first step, and that cybersecurity training and protections are still a pressing need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In rural counties, many county clerks\u2019 offices don\u2019t have information technology staff in-house and are relying on local government resources when issues arise. In the face of a cyberattack, these county clerks would have to be the first to respond, making cybersecurity training all the more essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were elected to run elections __ we weren\u2019t elected to run IT,\u201d said Turner, who also recently organized an election cybersecurity conference for local officials. \u201cTraining is going to teach us all how to best protect our systems and make sure we have all the best practices in place.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Local election officials hoping to use federal cybersecurity funding to upgrade Illinois\u2019 decades-old voting machines will have to keep waiting, as the State Board of Elections announced that the majority of the $13.9 million coming into the state will be funneled to training and bolstering cyber defenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":67824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":10,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"coauthors":[5740],"class_list":["post-22113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyber"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"ZI4CJJB7S5GMJFOTYFG3OPHKLQ","arc_canonical_url":"\/critical-infrastructure\/2018\/06\/25\/illinois-finalizes-its-plans-to-prevent-another-russian-hack\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n