Arizona Secretary of State beefs up cybersecurity measures for election systems

PHOENIX — Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes this week announced new efforts to increase cybersecurity for voters and election systems.

Employees of the Democrat’s office will be required to conduct state business only on state-issued devices, according to a press release.

Use of all personal social media application on state-owned devices, including TikTok, will also be prohibited. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs last week issued an executive order banning TikTok on state-owned devices.

Fontes said the initiatives are part of a larger push to defend Arizona against cyber threats.

“The threat to our elections posed by hostile states and criminals is real, which is why I have made it a priority in the first 100 days of my administration to bolster our cyber defenses, not only within the Secretary of State’s office, but also in every one of Arizona’s 15 counties,” Fontes said in the release.

Fontes added that he plans to ask the Arizona Legislature for funding to create a chief information security officer position.

Other election security requests include funding for IT vulnerability studies and a publicly accessible elections office for voter assistance.

“Our county elections officials need the training and technology now to adequately respond to these threats in order to protect voters, as well as our critical elections infrastructure,” Fontes said.

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