New wave of disinformation expected on the eve of US elections

Voting machine makers are likely to be the target of a new wave of disinformation aimed at discrediting election results when American voters go to the polls on Tuesday.

U.S. officials, including those at the lead agency for election security, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), have been pushing back a steady stream of accusations, saying many of them echo similar and debunked allegations from the 2020 presidential election.

It is a message that has even been echoed by the White House.

“We believe that Americans can and should go to the polls feeling comfortable that everything possible is being done to ensure that these are free, fair and secure elections,” John Kirby, the Security Council’s strategic communications coordinator, told reporters. National, last Friday.

But new research from cybersecurity firm Recorded Future finds there are signs that disinformation efforts around voting machines and systems are likely to increase on Election Day and the days following, though unlikely. efforts to reach the intensity of two years ago.

“Recorded Future has already identified claims in numerous facets of the traditional and alternative social media landscape, suggesting that technologies… will be used to manipulate midterm exam results,” the company said in a report released Monday. .

“Misinformation and misinformation around voting technologies are likely to be more prominent in jurisdictions facing particularly contentious races, such as the Arizona gubernatorial race, the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race, and the race for a seat in the Senate in Georgia,” the report says. additional.

Other states likely to face intense scrutiny from disinformation campaigns targeting the reliability of voting systems include Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada and Florida, according to the report.

So far, according to Recorded Future, the majority of disinformation efforts have originated in the United States, with most targeting just three companies: Dominion Voting Systems, Smartmatic, and Election Systems & Software (ES&S).

According to the nonprofit organization Verified Voting, which promotes the use of secure voting technologies, Dominion systems will be used in 21 states and 1,200 electoral jurisdictions by the 2022 midterm elections.

ES&S is used in 39 states and Washington, DC Smartmatic is used only in Los Angeles County, California.

All three companies have opposed previous accusations of wrongdoing, with Dominion going so far as to file defamation lawsuits against Fox News, One America News Network (OAN) and Newsmax, accusing them of spreading false claims by former US President Donald Trump and his allies. after the 2020 presidential election.

“Unsubstantiated claims about Dominion Voting Systems and the November 2020 election have been thoroughly debunked by election authorities, subject matter experts, and third-party fact checkers,” the company wrote on its website in a page updated on Sunday.

Dominion’s efforts, however, have not prevented new disinformation campaigns from taking hold.

“Recorded Future has exposed false claims that Dominion technologies will be deliberately manipulated for the 2022 midterm elections in most major facets of mainstream and alternative media,” the cybersecurity firm said in its report on Monday. , citing accusations on Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Gab, Patriots [.] win and 4chan.

The investigators also found some accusations promoted by two propaganda outlets linked to Russia: the Red Spring Information Agency and the Center for Research on Globalization.

ES&S, widely used in several electoral battleground states such as Arizona, Pennsylvania and Florida, has not been subject to the same level of scrutiny as Dominion, but has drawn the ire of “alt-right and ultra-conservative alternative social media platforms and ‘ news blogs,” according to the Recorded Future report.

Despite its small footprint in the US, Smartmatic has attracted considerable attention.

“Recorded Future uncovered multiple instances of misinformation and disinformation targeting Smartmatic with claims of corruption and manipulation,” the report said, pointing to posts in Gab, Patriots[.]win and SouthFront, a propaganda outlet linked to Russia’s security services.

A fourth voting machine and voting system company, Scytl, has also been the subject of rumors despite the fact that it is not being used in any US jurisdiction for Tuesday’s vote, Recorded Future said.

At times, all four companies have been attacked together.

“These pieces of trash have collectively been stealing our elections,” Joe Oltmann, a conservative activist and co-host of the Conservative Daily Podcast, wrote on his Telegram channel last month. “They have recycled code, rigged votes, and destroyed our voices while stealing elections at every level.”

Recorded Future is not alone in its warnings.

The Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), which describes itself as a nonpartisan investigative coalition, said in a report released Saturday that online influencers pushing conspiracy theories about the voter fraud “continue to thrive on mainstream and alternative platforms, amassing sizable audiences.”

“Many use a mix of platforms, often in a complementary way,” EIP said. “Even when a specific account isn’t present on a particular platform, their audiences can cross-post content there from other platforms.”

For now, US officials are doing their best to draw attention to disinformation efforts, boosting CISA’s “Rumor Control” website, as well as similar fact-checking websites run by individual states.

Cybersecurity experts from several high-profile private sector companies have also sought to allay concerns.

“I don’t see any indication that any kind of technology is compromised, or we should lose confidence in the electoral system,” he told the press. VOA Pat Flynn, head of the Trellix Advanced Programs Group.

“There is a continued focus on state election officials,” he said, pointing to recent phishing campaigns in Arizona, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

But Flynn said those attempts have been “pretty basic … very focused on the user himself, phishing and trying to entice them to hand over their credentials.”

“Predominantly, the electoral process is safe,” he said.

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