On March 7, 2018, CISAC scholar and Hoover Institution Research Fellow Andrew Grotto testified before a bicameral hearing of the California Legislature on “Cybersecurity and California Elections.” Grotto emphasized the importance of upholding the public's confidence in our electoral infrastructure, and highlighted the need for California's state and county election professionals to implement cybersecurity best practices. 

He urged that they practice their incident response and communications plans in order to ensure they are prepared for contingencies during the 2018 election cycle, in light of threats emanating from Russia and elsewhere. 

He also reminded that campaigns and elected officials are also vital components of our nation's electoral infrastructure, and that they too have a responsibility for upholding the public's confidence in our democracy. He emphasized the need for candidates to be vigilant and not allow their campaigns to become unwitting ampflifiers of Russian disinformation efforts. The full testimony is available here.