Florida’s Department of State has asked one of the state’s universities for help in safeguarding the 2018 elections. Dr. Eman El-Sheikh directs University of West Florida’s Center for Cybersecurity. She has been essential in developing a curriculum that’s used to train Supervisors of Elections and their staffs. El Sheikh recently spoke with WFSU’s Ryan Dailey to talk about what went into developing that training, and what election cyber-threats look like in 2018.
Questions, with timestamps:
How did you get into studying and working in cybersecurity, and how have you seen the practice evolve since you got in? 0:00-1:28
You were involved in developing the curriculum the Department of State used for training supervisors of election and their staffs. What went into developing that? 1:29-2:15
What does an elections staffer need to be aware of in 2018? What are the threats and vulnerabilities? 2:16-3:23
Talking about different kinds of threats – was this training more targeted at addressing offshore attacks, domestic, or both? 3:24-4:30