The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have issued a joint public service announcement warning that malicious cyber actors are actively preparing phishing and smishing campaigns aimed at election officials, candidates, and campaign organisations in the run-up to the 3 November midterms.
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Election officials and campaign staff remain attractive targets because of their access to voter registration systems, government contacts, and sensitive internal data. The agencies note that recent campaigns have grown more sophisticated. Super-intelligence tools now allow threat actors to generate messages that closely mimic legitimate communications, including native-language phrasing and common vernacular that earlier phishing attempts often lacked. Deepfake audio and video are also being used to create false identities and reinforce fraudulent outreach.
Smishing attempts delivered through encrypted chat applications have increased over the past year. The FBI and CISA stress that the combination of improved language generation and scaled automation means traditional red flags — poor grammar, obvious spelling errors — are no longer reliable indicators of a fake message.
The agencies urge election officials, campaign personnel, and the wider public to treat unsolicited requests for credentials or sensitive information with heightened caution. Recommended measures include phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication, external-email banners, strong spam filtering, least-privilege access controls, and regular employee training that emphasises secondary verification of unusual requests.
The FBI retains responsibility for investigating foreign influence and interference targeting election infrastructure. CISA continues to support the resilience of election systems as critical infrastructure. Both agencies ask that suspicious activity be reported to the nearest FBI field office or through the Internet Crime Complaint Center.
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