The threat to the election system is real, Rep. Suzan DelBene told attendees at a cybersecurity event Thursday, Oct. 11, at the University of Washington Bothell.
Washington is one of 21 states that had their election systems attacked in 2016, DelBene noted. Part of the defense is “about harnessing the incredible talent and ingenuity that we are so fortunate to have here right in our region,“ DelBene said.
“I’m very eager to learn about the work all of you are doing on the ideas you have here at UW Bothell, and I hope that we in Congress can look at the important contributions that you and people across the country are making to make sure we inform those policies going forward,” DelBene said.
Zach Ruble speaks with Rep. Suzan DelBene / Marc Studer photos
The event in the North Creek Events Center included talks by Barbara Endicott-Popovsky, executive director of the Center for Information Assurance and Cybersecurity (CIAC), which is based at UW Bothell; Julie Wise, the director of elections for King County; Pat Massey, a regional director for election systems security with the Department of Homeland Security; and others.
CIAC was one of the event sponsors along with the UW Master of Infrastructure Planning and Management program, and the Gray Hats, a UW Bothell club for students interested in cybersecurity.
“I think it’s important that people have faith in the election process. If you lose that then you don’t believe you have a voice and without a voice you’re kind of hopeless,” said Zach Ruble, club president. “I think this is a really great opportunity to raise awareness of election security and hopefully educate students about it.”
Learn about the Master of Science in Cyber Security Engineering and Graduate Certificate in Software Design & Development at UW Bothell.
