Cloudflare: Dissecting the Cyberattacks of the US Election

In the digital age, elections have become as much about data and networks as they are about casting votes. The health of democratic systems now depends not only on the physical act of voting but also on the resilience of the digital infrastructure supporting it.

The internet has become an integral part of modern elections, from online voter registration to digital campaign platforms. However, this technological evolution has introduced new challenges, particularly in cybersecurity.

As countries worldwide strive to protect their electoral processes from digital threats, the experiences of major elections, such as the 2024 US presidential race, offer valuable lessons for the global tech community.

Cloudflare, a provider of internet security and content delivery services, has released a comprehensive report on internet traffic patterns and cyberattacks observed during the 2024 US election.

Examining the election's dynamics

Their findings shed light on the ongoing evolution of digital democracy and underscore the critical importance of cybersecurity in safeguarding it.

The report reveals a notable surge in cyberattacks targeting election-related websites before and during the 2024 US election.

Despite this increase, Cloudflare's data indicates that these attacks largely failed to cause significant disruptions, highlighting the effectiveness of robust cybersecurity measures in protecting democratic processes in the digital realm.

The intensity of cyber attacks escalated significantly in the lead-up to the 2024 US election. On November 1, a particularly severe attack peaked at 700,000 requests per second, followed by two subsequent waves reaching 311,000 and 205,000 requests per second respectively.

Despite the unprecedented scale of these attacks, Cloudflare successfully mitigated them, ensuring that the targeted websites remained operational and accessible throughout this critical period.

The magnitude of these cyber threats in 2024 far surpassed those observed during the 2020 US presidential election.

Cloudflare's data indicates a substantial increase in the volume and sophistication of DDoS attacks compared to the previous election cycle, where they blocked approximately 100 million and 25 million malicious HTTP requests.

This dramatic surge underscores the evolving landscape of cyber threats in the context of national elections and highlights the critical importance of robust cybersecurity measures in safeguarding democratic processes.

In the first six days of November 2024 alone, Cloudflare blocked over 6 billion malicious HTTP requests targeting election-related websites. 

Cloudflare reported extensive collaboration with CISA and the Joint Cyber Defense Collaborative throughout 2024. This included briefing over 300 election officials on emerging threats and conducting more than 50 calls with state and local governments to review security practices. The company also held webinars focused on cyber threats to election groups and strategies for protecting election infrastructure.

Internet traffic in the election

Cloudflare's data also provided insights into how the election influenced internet usage patterns across the United States:

Internet traffic in the US reached its peak after the first polling stations closed, showing a 15% increase compared to the previous week. Notably, central states experienced higher percentages of internet traffic growth than coastal regions.

Maine, South Dakota, and Montana each saw a remarkable 44% increase in traffic, while more populous states like California (8%), Texas (19%), New York (22%), and Florida (23%) experienced more modest gains.

The data revealed significant spikes in traffic to various election-related websites. DNS traffic for polling services websites surged by 756% at 22:00 ET on election day compared to the previous week. News media outlets also saw a substantial increase, with DNS traffic rising by 325% between 22:00 and 23:00 ET.

These traffic patterns provide valuable insights into how citizens engage with online resources during major political events. Such information could be crucial for businesses and organizations operating in the digital space.

Implications for digital democracy

While focused on the US election, these findings have broader implications for the global technology industry and digital democracy worldwide. The data underscores the growing importance of cybersecurity in safeguarding democratic processes and highlights the need for continued innovation in this field.

It's worth noting that efforts to protect election infrastructure extend beyond the US. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, ensuring the integrity of digital platforms during elections has become a global concern.

Cloudflare's programmes like Project Galileo, the Athenian Project and Cloudflare for Campaigns, provides free cybersecurity resources to a wide range of organisations involved in elections globally.

These initiatives protect over 800 websites related to election infrastructure, including 423 websites in 33 US states and more than 354 campaigns and 34 state-level political parties.

This means that as more countries around the world embrace digital tools for civic engagement, the lessons learned from high-profile elections like the US presidential race become increasingly relevant.

As the Cloudflare blog says: “Cloudflare’s goal is to ensure that sites that enable democracy — such as voter registration sites, election information portals, campaign websites, and results reporting platforms — remain secure and accessible, especially under heavy traffic periods or cyberattacks.” 

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