Make Transition Now: .Gov Domain Mitigates Threats to Election Security

According to the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, foreign adversaries and cyber threat actors are expected to continue their efforts to interfere with U.S. election infrastructure, including in this year’s election.

Threat actors use a variety of tactics, including targeting election office websites and email accounts, as well as conducting influence operations that seek to impersonate election offices or election officials.

If your county has not already done so, MCIT reminds members to make the transition to a .gov domain for its website and email accounts per CISA and FBI guidance to help mitigate impersonation and cyber-security risks, particularly ahead of the 2024 election cycle.

Domain Only for U.S.-based Government Organizations

Similar to .com, .org or .us domains, organizations use a .gov domain for online services, such as websites and email. However, .gov is only available to official U.S.-based government organizations and publicly controlled entities.

Users visiting a .gov website or receiving a message from a .gov email address can be more confident that the content is genuine government information. Also, use of the .gov domain can help the public better recognize official government sites and emails, while avoiding phishing attempts and websites that imitate government entities.

Learn More About Making the Transition

CISA offers details about making the transition to .gov domain in a guidance released in early April. Members can also contact CISA-ExternalAffairs@cisa.dhs.gov for further assistance.

According to CISA:

• Transitioning to a .gov domain is a multistep process. CISA’s guidance on how to make the transition to .gov includes branding and public communication considerations, and technical tasks such as identifying domain name system hosting, maintaining previous non-.gov domain registration, managing web redirects and converting email.
• The transition process likely requires substantial effort in the beginning. Simple steps, such as setting up redirection from an old domain to the new .gov domain, assist users and can help protect election offices against impersonation.