Leading cybersecurity experts called on Congress to take immediate action to protect U.S. election systems from evolving foreign threats during a recent House hearing on election security.
At the "American Confidence in Elections: Prohibiting Foreign Interference" hearing, experts highlighted how adversaries are increasingly targeting election infrastructure through cyber attacks, financial crime, and misinformation campaigns.
Matthew O'Neill, former Secret Service deputy special agent specialized in cyber operations, warned of an "urgent threat of financial interference" in U.S. elections. He emphasized that outdated federal systems and unregulated financial technology platforms create major vulnerabilities that foreign actors could exploit.
"The tools we need already exist, but modernization incentives are necessary to fully realize their potential," O'Neill stated during his testimony. He noted that current legacy systems make it difficult to verify digital donor identities, potentially allowing voter data to be compromised and sold.
According to O'Neill's testimony, financial crimes exploiting election process gaps resulted in $12.5 billion in losses during 2023, with cryptocurrency playing a major role. These activities often overlapped with large-scale money laundering operations.
Bradley Bowman, Senior Director at the Center on Military and Political Power, warned about the growing sophistication of election interference attempts. "We should expect China, Russia, Iran, to continue to attack our electoral process with increasing ferocity and AI empowered effectiveness," he cautioned.
Committee Chairman Bryan Steil emphasized that foreign adversaries are targeting multiple sectors of U.S. critical infrastructure, including both financial and cyber aspects of elections. He called for immediate action to close legal loopholes and strengthen defenses against foreign interference through cyber attacks and misinformation campaigns.
The experts advocated for a bipartisan approach to address these challenges, recommending expanded information sharing, stronger regulations, and accelerated technology adoption to protect election integrity and restore public confidence in the democratic process.