The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Office of the Inspector General (OIG) issued a report stating that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) must take additional steps to secure the U.S. election infrastructure.
The OIG report dated Oct. 22 states that DHS has improved coordination and CISA was able to create guidelines for securing systems required throughout the 2020 election cycle.
However, the IG noted that CISA’s plans “do not sufficiently mitigate other potential risks” such as terrorism threats or targeted violence. The agency’s strategy also does not identify external stakeholder dependencies that “impede mission performance,” the report states.
Factors such as duplicate data, limited staffing and inadequate authorities also hindered CISA’s capacity to provide additional assessments and services, according to the report. CISA must improve information sharing, update its planning documents and facilitate timely evaluations and assistance to key stakeholders, the IG said.