Disinfo surge hasn’t impacted US polls, says chief of cybersecurity

WASHINGTON: US cybersecurity agency director Jen Easterly said on Monday that her department has not seen evidence of any activity that could directly impact the outcome of the election, despite a surge in disinformation.

She added that the 2024 election has faced an “unprecedented” amount of disinformation from foreign adversaries.

US agencies have warned that Russia and others intend to fan divisive narratives ahead of the election, an accusation Russia has denied.

Last week, officials in the state of Georgia described a fake video circulating online of Haitian immigrant with multiple Georgia IDs claiming to have voted multiple times as “targeted disinformation”.

In a statement, senior U.S. intelligence officials linked the video back to Russia.

A senior Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency official said there was a high likelihood that foreign disinformation efforts will continue in weeks and months after election up until January 6.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2024