Election Officials Have Been Preparing for AI Cyberattacks
>Anthropic claims that its new model can autonomously scan for vulnerabilities in software more effectively than even expert security researchers. If given access to this new model, amateurs would theoretically be capable of identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities in a way that previously only sophisticated actors, such as nation-states, could do. For this reason, Anthropic chose not to release the Mythos model publicly. Instead, under an initiative Anthropic is calling Project Glasswing, it has offered access to Mythos to a number of high-profile tech firms and critical infrastructure operators so that these companies can proactively identify and address vulnerabilities in their own systems.
>While AI-assisted vulnerability scanning may expand the scale of possible attacks, it still represents a difference only in degree — not in kind — from what election officials have prepared to face. Some security experts who have received access to Mythos have publicly agreed with that assessment, noting that even the previously undiscovered vulnerabilities were ones that could have been found by a human researcher; they were not entirely new weaknesses altogether.
>Since attempts by Russian actors to scan and infiltrate state voter registration databases in the 2016 election, election officials nationwide have adopted security best practices and updated technology, with funding and support from state and federal government. A survey of state election officials shows that most states have adopted recommended voter registration database protections, such as requiring multifactor authentication for all users, using network monitoring systems, conducting system audits, and creating regular backups. Between 2018 and 2024, the federal government provided over $1 billion to update election technology and offered free access to cybersecurity assessments and vulnerability scanning, allowing election officials to better understand system threats and improve prevention protocols.
The federal government has withdrawn much of its support for election security over the past year.