Now making its sixth stop on a national tour, the USC-led cybersecurity campaign will feature leaders from around Pennsylvania. With generous support from Google, the initiative will have visited all 50 states before Election Day 2020, offering invaluable resources to campaigns, election workers, elected officials, and concerned citizens to reinforce election cybersecurity measures.
Contact: Adam Clayton Powell III at acpowell@usc.edu or (703) 848-5232; or Justin Griffin at justing7@usc.edu; or (603) 218-9973; or Emily Gersema at gersema@usc.edu or (213) 740-2215; or Ted Kissell at tkissell@usc.edu or (714) 316-8808
PENNSYLVANIA— The University of Southern California will bring its 50-state election cybersecurity initiative on Thursday, March 5, 2020 to Pennsylvania – and to the University of Pennsylvania – sharing best practices from cybersecurity experts and from the 50 states, the true laboratories of democracy.
The USC Election Cybersecurity Initiative launched one month ago in Maryland, drawing federal, state and local officials, as well as experts on cybersecurity and national media. Two weeks ago, the initiative visited Kentucky and convened thought leaders including Jared Dearing, executive director of the Kentucky State Board of Elections. Just last week, the group held a workshop in Las Vegas, Nevada featuring Deputy Secretary of State for Elections, Wayne Thorley.
Thursday’s discussions in Pennsylvania will cover cyber safety, disinformation and misinformation, and crisis communication. The event will be open to the public and to media. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. Register here: https://uscpennsylvania.eventbrite.com
“We are going to all 50 states to make sure information is available to everyone, but especially to those in campaigns and elections,” said Adam Clayton Powell III, executive director of the project. “We like to say our candidate is democracy.”
Google provided support that enables the initiative to cover all 50 states.
“In advance of the 2020 election, we are committed to enhancing election security for voters, campaigns and journalists alike,” said Kristie Canegallo, vice president of Google’s Trust and Safety team. “We’re proud to support USC’s Election Security and Information Project to provide comprehensive training to candidates, campaigns, academics, elected officials, and NGOs to help them prepare for security challenges before the 2020 election.”
“We’re excited to visit Pennsylvania in the wake of so much political activity following the South Carolina Primary and Super Tuesday,” said Justin Griffin, the project’s managing director. “Our team is grateful to have support from the Annenberg Public Policy Center, the University of Pennsylvania and its talented graduates including Sam Vinograd.”
“Our national security depends on voters’ ability to trust that elections are secure from foreign influence,” added Vinograd, an election cybersecurity expert, who will participate on Thursday. “The threat posed by foreign election attacks requires not just a whole of government response, but strong public and private sector collaboration.”
The nonpartisan initiative is led by the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy, which draws on expertise from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences; USC Gould School of Law; USC Marshall School of Business; USC Price School of Public Policy; and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. The effort also is supported by USC political experts—some of whom have run presidential campaigns.
About the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy: The center was created a dozen years ago when Professor Geoffrey Cowan stepped down after a decade as Dean of the USC Annenberg School to become a University Professor and to lead a new research and policy center. From the start, one of CCLP’s areas of focus has been the impact of communication technology on society. For more background on CCLP, please visit its website.