The Independent View: NY BOE Seeks to Fill Cyber Security Posts

New York’s system of collecting, counting and reporting vote totals was almost certainly not breached by a cyber attack on Election Day. But officials at the State Board of Elections (BOE) say they are constantly fending off potential efforts by cyber criminals to gain access.

“You know, you keep asking if we were attacked, and it’s a little hard for us to answer that because there’s always somebody trying to infiltrate your website,” said Todd Valentine, a Republican Commissioner on the Board.

Lawmakers in the State Assembly on Tuesday at a public hearing quizzed State Elections officials on the integrity of voting in New York amid concerns Elections systems elsewhere in the Country had been hacked.

“The FBI has acknowledged there were two states that had cyberattacks early on in the election,” said Assemblyman Michael Cusick, the Staten Island lawmaker who Chairs the Chamber’s Elections Committee, “so it’s important for us to find out what’s in place for New York.”

Evidence, however, is thin as to whether any of these efforts, potentially with the backing of a Foreign Government like Russia, swayed the Election.

But even so, Elections officials said they didn’t take anything to chance in the lead up to Election Day in New York, with Federal Law Enforcement also providing assistance to County Elections Commissioners.

“From our perspective, the Department of Homeland Security did step up and offer help to call into those counties who had either been unable to answer the survey or needed some help,” said Bob Brehm, a Democratic Commissioner on the Board. “They said, help.”

Elections officials say more help is needed for County Governments in New York who oversee voting. The need is especially high in smaller Counties.

“They did not have adequate resources to do that,” Brehm said. “They had questions and certainly if you look at the period of time between August and Election day, everybody was extremely busy both on our level and on the County level.

The BOE in a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget office called to fill three positions that would oversee Information Technology and Cyber Security.

At the same time, the Commissioners want to enhance Cyber Security at the Board.

“They find a way in,” Brehm said. “What we need to do is put in place the monitoring on an ongoing basis and make sure we are up to date on those monitoring services.”