Cyber threat actors use a variety of techniques to target election and campaign officials


The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are providing this Public Service Announcement (PSA) to raise awareness of the cyber threats facing election and campaign officials during the upcoming 2026 U.S. midterm elections. Additionally, this announcement provides the public with information on techniques, including phishing1 and smishing2, that malicious cyber actors have used during past election cycles.

Malicious cyber actors may attempt to disrupt the 2026 U.S. midterm elections using phishing and smishing techniques to steal user data, including login credentials and sensitive information. Election officials, candidates, and their political organizations are attractive targets to malicious cyber criminals due to their access to voter registration data, current government officials, or sensitive campaign information.

Read more…
Source: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Cyber Division


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • OneBlood hit by ransomware attack, tells hospitals to activate critical shortage alerts

    August 1, 2024

    Nonprofit medical organization OneBlood, which plays a crucial role in serving facilities across the Southeastern US, has been targeted in a ransomware attack which caused an IT systems outage, causingover 250 hospitals to activate critical blood shortage protocols. The move disrupted services across multiple US states, with the organization operating at a ‘significantly reduced capacity’ – ...

  • US senators ask FTC to investigate car makers’ privacy practices

    July 29, 2024

    An ongoing US Senate investigation indicated that connected car makers violate consumer privacy by sharing and selling drivers’ data, including their location, on a vast scale, and that the same car makers often obtain consumer consent through deception. Based on this investigation, senators have urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate automakers’ disclosure of millions ...

  • US border agents must get warrant before cell phone searches, federal court rules

    July 29, 2024

    A federal district court in New York has ruled that U.S. border agents must obtain a warrant before searching the electronic devices of Americans and international travelers crossing the U.S. border. The ruling on July 24 is the latest court opinion to upend the U.S. government’s long-standing legal argument, which asserts that federal border agents should ...

  • Intruders at HealthEquity rifled through storage, stole 4.3M people’s data

    July 29, 2024

    HealthEquity, a US fintech firm for the healthcare sector, admits that a “data security event” it discovered at the end of June hit the data of a substantial 4.3 million individuals. Stolen details include addresses, telephone numbers and payment data.… The incident began in March but was only detected in June. The company said in a ...

  • Millions more victims exposed in debt collection agency data breach

    July 29, 2024

    It seems that the data breach at the debt collection agency Financial Business and Consumer Solutions (FBCS) was a lot bigger than initially thought. After first reporting some 1.9 million victims, the company now says that more than 4.2 million were actually affected. In late April, it was reported that FBCS suffered a cyberattack two months ...

  • Georgia: Columbus hit by data breach, officials say not considered ransomware incident

    July 29, 2024

    Columbus experienced a data breach last Wednesday, the same day as an internet outage, city officials say. The only information believed to have been accessed are employees’ names, work emails and passwords, according to Mike Richardson, the city’s director of security and risk. He said no employee’s personal financial information was compromised. All employee passwords were ...