ATLANTA — Georgia elections officials from the Secretary of State’s Office said they believe we can expect foreign agents to try and attack and influence the state’s election systems.
Despite that warning, officials said they believe they are prepared for the attacks, but not everyone agrees.
WSBTV’s Richard Elliot sat down with Gabriel Sterling, Chief Operating Officer for the Sec. of State’s Office, who said Georgia is better prepared for these types of attacks than most other states.
Still, Sterling gave a grim prediction for the coming political cycle.
“We are the center of the political universe,” Sterling said. “I can about guarantee that China and Russia and Iran will do things to try and influence and attack Georgia.”
Georgia is a battleground state in the coming presidential election and Sterling said he thinks we’ll get the attention of bad actors in the coming months before November.
There have already been ransomware attacks, probably more crimes of opportunity than targeted attacks, on Georgia counties, four in the past five months, including the one that hit Fulton County.
But Sterling said the Georgia Registered Voter Information System, GARVIS, gives the state the ability to switch off counties where attacks are occurring, thereby preventing infection from going statewide.
“If we, the hair on the back of our neck stands up, if we get a rumor, you’re going to get shut down until you can prove to us that you’re safe and secure,” Sterling warned.
Still, some cybersecurity experts don’t agree that the state’s defenses are ready.
Dr. Richard DeMillo, a cybersecurity expert at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said that there are still risks.
“The fact of the matter is, we have risk running through Georgia’s system,” DeMillo said.
He thinks the state needs to go much further to provide election security than it’s doing and said he doesn’t think the Sec. of State’s Office is doing a good enough job at managing the risk to elections, saying the counties are still extremely vulnerable to attacks.
“What it means is you have to be extra vigilant and I’m not hearing that extra vigilance from the state,” DeMillo said.
Sterling warned about cyberattacks but also said foreign bad actors will try to use social media to spread disinformation and erode confidence in the election system, something we should all remain vigilant about.