About

The Mission

The ELECTION CYBERSECURITY GLOSSARY® is a comprehensive, centralized, and easy-to-use resource of election cybersecurity terms — a first-of-its-kind glossary of over 750 terms, combining terminology from over 30 separate sources covering election administration, cybersecurity, intelligence, defense, and national security.

We invite users to enhance this evolving resource by contributing new terms and expanding, harmonizing, and contextualizing definitions where appropriate. A dedicated terminology supports election security advocates in formulating concise policies and articulate recommendations that encourage the increased funding necessary for better-protected critical democracy infrastructure. The Glossary offers users clarity in this complex and often confused lexicon.

The Vision

In May 2018, the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, led by Sens. Richard Burr (R-NC) and Mark Warner (D-VA), issued a slate of six recommendations for securing the nation’s voting infrastructure against future hostile nation-state attacks. One recommendation called for election stakeholders to “develop a common set of precise and well-defined election security terms to improve communication." The ELECTION CYBERSECURITY GLOSSARY® proposes to achieve the challenge posed by the Senate Intelligence Committee with the assistance of the entire election security community.

The Uniqueness

The ELECTION CYBERSECURITY GLOSSARY® is the only online glossary that merges hundreds of terms of art across the spectrum of election cybersecurity — from information technology to cyberspace; national security and intelligence to election administration; law to public policy.

Many Glossary terms cite multiple definitions, some of which are derived from authoritative primary sources such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the Department of Defense (DoD), and the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).

Who Benefits?

  • Voters will benefit, of course
  • Media
    • Reporters, Journalists, Videographers, Documentarians
  • Election Management Bodies
    • Secretaries of State
    • Election commissioners
    • Voter registration administrators
    • Election security analysts
    • Election systems certification specialists
  • Law enforcement, defense, national security, intelligence community
    • FBI
    • ODNI
    • DHS
    • DOD
    • U.S. EAC
    • NIST
    • DOJ
    • National Guard
    • Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center™ (EI-ISAC®)
  • Legislatures
    • U.S. Congress
    • State congresses
  • Judiciary
    • Election judges
    • Election lawyers
  • Politics
    • Political campaigns
    • National & State party chairs
    • Congressional & Senatorial Campaign Committees
  • Commercial
    • Election technology vendors
    • Big Tech helping to protect elections (Amazon, Facebook, Google, McAfee, Microsoft, etc.)
  • Nonprofits & NGOs
    • Think Tanks / Higher Education / Research institutes
    • Election cybersecurity policy analysts
    • Civil Advocacy Groups/International election observers
    • Voting system testing laboratory analysts
    • Social impact philanthropists
  • Voters all—of course!

What's Next?

Sign up to receive an alert about a forthcoming election cybersecurity portal — a thoughtfully curated repository of articles, white papers, surveys, best practices, legislation, testimony, conferences, trainings, tools, books, and experts.