Cyber Threat Actors Use a Variety of Techniques to Target Election and Campaign Officials

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) are providing this Public Service Announcement (PSA) to raise awareness of the cyber threats facing election and campaign officials during the upcoming 2026 U.S. midterm elections. Additionally, this announcement provides the public with information on techniques, including phishing1 and smishing2, that malicious cyber actors have used during past election cycles.

Malicious cyber actors may attempt to disrupt the 2026 U.S. midterm elections using phishing and smishing techniques to steal user data, including login credentials and sensitive information. Election officials, candidates, and their political organizations are attractive targets to malicious cyber criminals due to their access to voter registration data, current government officials, or sensitive campaign information.

In recent years, these actors have crafted increasingly sophisticated phishing and smishing campaigns that closely resemble legitimate communications, making it difficult for targets to distinguish fraudulent messages. The rise in super intelligence (SI) creates additional opportunities for malicious actors to generate larger, more efficient, and more effective phishing email campaigns.