{"id":30038,"date":"2019-11-05T21:52:05","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T21:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/11\/05\/the-national-guard-is-shoring-up-to-fight-2020-election-hacking\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:30:48","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:30:48","slug":"the-national-guard-is-shoring-up-to-fight-2020-election-hacking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/home\/2019\/11\/05\/the-national-guard-is-shoring-up-to-fight-2020-election-hacking\/","title":{"rendered":"The National Guard is shoring up to fight 2020 election hacking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On election night 2020<\/a>, dozens of states will have members of their National Guard cyber<\/a> teams ready and waiting to deal with attacks<\/a> on their voting systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-seven states got their feet wet during the 2018 mid-terms, the bureau\u2019s chief told reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday, and he expects more will be engaged next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe election network security is a very state-centric thing,\u201d said Air Force Gen. Joseph Lengyel. \u201cIt\u2019s not military responsibility, or National Guard responsibility, to secure it. We\u2019re an additive measure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Illinois guard played a key role in 2018, teaming with their state board of elections, Illinois\u2019s adjutant general said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also had the command-and-control cell at our state intelligence center, with our state police,\u201d Air Force Brig. Gen. Richard Neely said. \u201cThat way, when we saw an incident come in, we identified it there and we triaged it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guard members can scan networks for suspicious activity, then determine whether something is a glitch or an attack. From there, they can try some preliminary fixes to get things back online, or send more serious hacks to the state\u2019s IT experts \u2015 and get state or federal law enforcement involved, where necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They didn\u2019t see any true attacks during that election, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re doing our business correctly, we\u2019re hopefully seeing that beforehand, before an attack actually occurs,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington state is doing some homework heading in the election, its adjutant general said, putting together a 10-person team to develop a plan, look for vulnerabilities in their network and then monitor for anything strange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, come election night, Army Maj. Gen. Bret Daugherty said, troops will be \u201con hand to respond if all of our efforts have failed and the bad guys find their way in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether each state and territory\u2019s guard personnel are activated for the election is up to their governors, but in the mean time, units are getting prepared for bigger things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, the guard is piloting a Cyber Mission Assurance Team concept, 10-person groups of soldiers and airmen. They will focus on Defense Department and other federal installations, to assess their vulnerabilities and come up contingencies to get everything back online after a breach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s expected to run in Ohio, Washington and Hawaii through next year, Lengyel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Multiple state guard bureaus have been on the front lines of other attacks in the past year, according to Lengyel.<\/p>\n\n\n