White House reportedly preparing for cyber attacks on Election Day

A man on a computer.
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

There are just days to go before Americans head to the polls to choose a president, and the White House is finishing preparations for combating any cyber attacks by hackers looking to undermine the election.

U.S. officials told NBC News that the White House, working with the Department of Homeland Security, the CIA, the NSA, and parts of the Defense Department, is bracing for lower-level efforts like the release of fake documents about a political party on social media and worst-case scenarios, including an attack that shuts down part of the power grid or internet. A senior Obama administration official told NBC News that the Russians "want to sow as much confusion as possible and undermine our process in ways they've done elsewhere. So this is to make sure that we have all the tools at our disposal and that we're prepared to respond to whatever it is that they do." The officials are keeping how they would respond to "influence operations" to themselves, but said they will be ready to counter misinformation and keep communication lines open.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.