Election security webinar for Ky., N.C., Tenn., Va. and W.Va. set Aug. 18; agency issues guide to digital election threats

"Promoting elections accuracy and bolstering voter roll maintenance and cybersecurity" is one of six major policy trends to watch in state governments, Bloomberg Government reports, and local, state and federal elections are less than three months away. Next week, five Appalachian states will be the focus of a webinar for journalists and others interested in the topic.

The Election Cybersecurity Initiative of the University of Southern California will hold the webinar aimed at Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. ET Thursday, Aug. 18. Zoom login information will be provided upon registration, available here.

Topics of the webinar will include cybersecurity, cyber safety, disinformation, misinformation, and crisis response. Scheduled speakers are:

• Sarah Mojarad, lecturer, USC Viterbi School of Engineering
• Clifford Neuman, director, USC Center for Computer Systems Security
• Dave Quast, adjunct faculty, USC Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism
• Marie Harf, international elections analyst, USC Election Cybersecurity Initiative
• Maurice Turner, election security analyst, USC Election Cybersecurity Initiative
• Michael Coden, associate director, cybersecurity, MIT Sloan School of Management

The webinar will be hosted by Adam Clayton Powell III, executive director of the Election Cybersecurity Initiative. Questions? Email truevote@usc.edu.

Meanwhile, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has released a guide to digital threats facing election officials and how to mitigate them. The Cybersecurity Toolkit to Protect Elections "aims to help election administrators and their staffs protect themselves against threats including phishing, ransomware, email scams, denial-of-service attacks and other vectors that could potentially disrupt the voting process or confuse voters," StateScoop reports.