Liberty and Justice for All

The talk is given by the chief information security officer for Arizona's Secretary of State office, who explains why election officials are often reluctant to speak openly about attacks. He recounts a June 2025 defacement of the state's candidate results site, which he assesses with high confidence was carried out by Iranian actors. The office detected and recovered quickly with help from state homeland security, the National Guard and partners, then shared indicators of compromise without attribution. That openness was later used against leadership in political fights, which he presents as a reason sharing could decline.

The middle section walks through the recent Arizona primary, moved to July 21 to leave time for recounts. Monsoon storms caused power outages, intermittent internet and road closures, and several counties reported ballot delivery problems. He describes a fusion-center setup on election days, a state program that supplies security controls free to small counties, and guidance on using AI tools carefully in under-resourced offices. His threat survey covers bomb threats, white powder mailings, drone electioneering, active shooter risk, swatting, phishing and vishing, payroll and finance fraud, insider risk, and LLM and search poisoning.

He closes with advice for the general election: expect honest mistakes and separate them from malice, demand evidence, report problems to officials instead of only the media, and take part in the process through observing, poll work and early voting.