Advanced Security Programs
Election Security Program
Safeguard election systems, infrastructure, and public trust.
Safeguarding U.S. Elections
Modern elections rely on interconnected systems that must operate securely to maintain voter confidence and election integrity. As cyber threats grow and federal support declines, election entities must independently prove their defenses work against real-world attacks.
The OnDefend Election Security Program validates prevention, detection, and response across email, internet-facing systems, security controls, and threat response through real-world attack simulations, providing objective proof of resilience and readiness ahead of Election Day.
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Election Security Capabilities
Email Filter Security Testing
We emulate real-world email attacks by safely simulating malicious payloads to validate filtering effectiveness and assess SPF, DKIM, and DMARC configurations, identifying gaps, reducing spoofing risk, and strengthening overall email security posture.
External Penetration Testing
We test internet-facing systems using real-world attack techniques to determine how attackers could gain access or cause impact, validating exploitability and identifying the weaknesses that matter most for risk-focused remediation.
External Defense Validation
We validate that security controls block, detect, and alert on attacks targeting internet-facing systems, confirming defenses are correctly configured and teams receive actionable visibility to respond before impact occurs.
Threat Response Validation
We simulate live attack scenarios to validate that internal teams and third-party providers detect, investigate, and contain threats, producing objective evidence that response capabilities perform under real-world conditions.
Risks Uncovered
Our election security testing can uncover the following risks that adversaries can exploit to disrupt election communications, internet facing systems and overall threat resilience.
Email Based Initial Access (Phishing, Spoofing, Impersonation)
Email Based Initial Access (Phishing, Spoofing, Impersonation)
Exploited email delivery mechanisms enable attackers to gain initial access through malicious or impersonated messages when filtering is ineffective or SPF, DKIM, or DMARC controls are misconfigured, thereby enabling credential theft, malware, delivery fraud, or unauthorized access.
Exploitable Internet Facing Systems
Exploitable Internet Facing Systems
Compromised, externally-exposed applications, services, or infrastructure result from unpatched vulnerabilities, weak authentication, insecure configurations, or exposed administrative interfaces that enable attackers to gain direct access into internal enterprise systems.
Internet Facing Control Failures
Internet Facing Control Failures
Failed perimeter security controls – including WAF, IDS, IPS, EDR, firewall rules, and cloud security controls which allow real attack activity to bypass prevention and detection due to misconfiguration, incomplete coverage, or ineffective rule logic.
SOC, MDR, and MSSP Detection and Response Failures
SOC, MDR, and MSSP Detection and Response Failures
Failed detection and response by internal teams or third party SOC, MDR, or MSSP providers which allow active attacks to persist due to visibility gaps, ownership confusion, tooling limitations, response delays, and increased business impact.
Our Team
Partners with Yours
Our team partners with yours to gain a deep understanding of your environment and objectives so we can effectively deliver clear communication, expert guidance, and actionable insight that ensures the outcomes align with your security and business goals.
Resources
Explore our comprehensive resource collection to enhance your organization’s security posture and stay ahead of potential threats.
TikTok Partnership
HaystackID and OnDefend are furthering security of the TikTok U.S. platform & app.
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Election Security Program FAQs
What is the OnDefend Election Security Program?
The OnDefend Election Security Program is an independent, evidence-based validation of election infrastructure defenses and response capabilities, designed to assess readiness against real-world cyber threats before Election Day.
How is this different from a standard security assessment?
This program is tailored specifically to election environments and focuses on operational readiness, real-world attack simulation, and response validation rather than generic compliance or point-in-time reviews.
Will results be shared publicly?
No. All results are shared only with your organization unless you explicitly approve anonymous aggregation for broader insight sharing.
Does this testing disrupt election systems?
No. All testing is controlled, safe, and designed to avoid disruption to production systems or election operations.
When should election entities conduct this testing?
Testing is most effective well ahead of Election Day, allowing time to remediate findings and validate response readiness before heightened threat activity.
Secure Your Elections.
Understand your real exposure with guidance from security experts.
