Ransomware Attacks During the 2020 Election Cycle
| Submitted | July 20, 2020 |
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Communications
From: Allan Liska
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New Hampshire Right to Know Law, I hereby request the following records:
Guidance, including guidance to state and local elections officials and SOS IT staff, avoiding, detecting or mitigating ransomware attacks on elections systems during the 2020 election cycle, on best practices for state and local elections officials accessing or storing sensitive information, including voter databases, and evaluations about the threat of ransomware disrupting the elections.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Allan Liska
From: Secretary of State
Allan Liska:
The Secretary of State's office acknowledges receipt of your Right-to-Know request on July 20, 2020.
In a partial response to your request, we are attaching responsive records, materials provided to local election officials during past training, which in part addresses ransomware.
A component of cybersecurity training is use of a commercial service, in 2019 the SANS Institute, which provides on-line interactive training that includes short videos. The attached letter introduces this training to local officials. We do not possess the actual videos and interactive questions/answers that are part of that program they are the commercial property of the vendor, so are not able to provide that to you. The 2020 training cycle starts in August.
We require additional time to locate any additional responsive records and to review to determine whether any information is exempt from disclosure. Please note, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic, additional time may also be required because many staff are currently engaged full-time in responding to issues arising from the State of Emergency. Furthermore the upcoming 2020 state elections and training being presented in August demands the time of the staff who would need to search for further responsive records. In order to respond as quickly as possible, we plan to provide a rolling production, providing responsive documents when they are identified by our search and prepared for disclosure. We expect to complete our response to this request by September 29, 2020.
Orville B. Fitch II
Elections Legal Counsel, Assistant Secretary of State
Secretary of State's Office
State House Room 204
107 N. Main St.
Concord, New Hampshire 03301
Bud.Fitch@sos.nh.gov<mailto:Bud.Fitch@sos.nh.gov>
(603) 271-5335
Subject: New Hampshire Right to Know Law Request: Ransomware Attacks During the 2020 Election Cycle
Secretary of State
RTK Office
71 South Fruit Street
Concord, NH 03301
July 20, 2020
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New Hampshire Right to Know Law, I hereby request the following records:
Guidance, including guidance to state and local elections officials and SOS IT staff, avoiding, detecting or mitigating ransomware attacks on elections systems during the 2020 election cycle, on best practices for state and local elections officials accessing or storing sensitive information, including voter databases, and evaluations about the threat of ransomware disrupting the elections.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Allan Liska
Filed via MuckRock.com
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SANS Training SOS Letter FINAL
From: Allan Liska
Hi Orville,
Thanks so much for your help with this request! I really appreciate it, good luck with your August training and look forward to your additional response.
Sincerely,
Allan Liska
From: Secretary of State
Allan Liska:
In regards to your Right-to-Know law request for:
Guidance, including guidance to state and local elections officials and SOS IT staff, avoiding, detecting or mitigating ransomware attacks on elections systems during the 2020 election cycle, on best practices for state and local elections officials accessing or storing sensitive information, including voter databases, and evaluations about the threat of ransomware disrupting the elections.
We have provided a significant partial disclosure, but require additional time to complete our searches and make a final disclosure. Due to the time sensitive demands of the State Primary, the canvas of the primary, recounts from the primary, ballot preparation and distribution for the General Election, supporting local officials as they conduct that election on November 3, 2020, the canvas of votes starting November 4, 2020, and any required recounts, we need additional time to complete our searches for responsive records and to complete our response to this request. We plan to make a final disclosure or confirm that all responsive records have been disclosed by Friday, December 4, 2020.
Please acknowledge receipt of this e-mailed extension of the date for a final disclosure, by reply e-mail.
Orville B. Fitch II
Elections Legal Counsel, Assistant Secretary of State
Secretary of State's Office
State House Room 204
107 N. Main St.
Concord, New Hampshire 03301
Bud.Fitch@sos.nh.gov<mailto:Bud.Fitch@sos.nh.gov>
(603) 271-5335
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New Hampshire Right to Know Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 20, 2020. You previously indicated that it would be completed on Dec. 4, 2020. I wanted to let you know that I am still interested in the following documents, and to see if that date was still accurate.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New Hampshire Right to Know Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on July 20, 2020. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Dec. 4, 2020. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Secretary of State
December 4, 2020
Alan Liska
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 98480
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144-2516
Via E-mail: requests@muckrock.com<mailto:requests@muckrock.com>
Dear Alan Liska:
The Secretary of State's Office's additional response to your Right-to-Know law request regarding guidance to state and local elections officials and SOS IT staff, regarding avoiding, detecting or mitigating ransomware attacks on elections systems during the 2020 election cycle is attached.
The response provides the current edition of the Election Procedure Manual, which the Secretary distributes to all local election officials and makes available to the public. The PDF labeled "Election Procedure Manual - Cybersecurity resilience measures" provides pointers to the pages in the document that are responsive to your request.
The files sent to you on July 21, 2020 and the attached files complete the Secretary of State's Office response to this Right-to-Know law request.
Sincerely yours,
Orville B. Fitch II
Elections Legal Counsel, Assistant Secretary of State
Bud.Fitch@sos.nh.gov<mailto:Bud.Fitch@sos.nh.gov>
(603) 271-5335
Orville B. Fitch II
Elections Legal Counsel, Assistant Secretary of State
Secretary of State's Office
State House Room 204
107 N. Main St.
Concord, New Hampshire 03301
Bud.Fitch@sos.nh.gov<mailto:Bud.Fitch@sos.nh.gov>
(603) 271-5335
Files
pages