Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon today issued the following statement regarding Minnesota’s election cybersecurity ahead of the 2020 elections:
“Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s warning to America regarding foreign interference in our elections is timely, but not new. Since I first took office in 2015, and again after we learned that Minnesota had been specifically targeted in 2016 by entities associated with the Russian Government, my office has been laser-focused on the cybersecurity of our elections. The threat to our systems is ongoing, and we have been working as quickly as time and resources allow to harden our security before 2020.
“The keys to election cybersecurity are to be able to recognize a threat or intrusion, respond to that intrusion, and ensure that our systems are resilient enough to be fully restored as quickly as possible. To that end, I have deployed all resources available to my office to execute on the 20-point plan that I first presented to legislators in November 2018.
“Moreover, in partnership with the Governor’s office, we are working across the entirety of government to leverage resources like the National Guard, State IT professionals, law enforcement, and others, to better develop communications and resiliency protocols. This work is underway and will be completed by the end of 2019.
“Minnesota is proudly old-school when it comes to elections – we use paper ballots, conduct multiple audits of elections results, and have a decentralized system in partnership with all 87 counties across our state. I am in regular contact with local election officials and share their confidence in our ability to conduct fair and secure elections in 2020 and beyond.
“The threat to our systems is real and nobody can guarantee 100 percent security success. However, Minnesotans should rest assured that my office and our partners across the state are working hard everyday to maintain the integrity of our best-in-the-nation election system.”
To learn more about what the Secretary of State is doing to strengthen elections cybersecurity in Minnesota, click here.