Hackers more focused on misleading voters than ballot tampering: Report

Hackers and foreign influence operators are increasingly turning to misinformation campaigns to confuse and mislead voters rather than tampering with voting machines and ballots in the 2026 midterm elections, a new cybersecurity report found.

The report, published Monday by cybersecurity firm Check Point Software, said attempts at phishing, impersonation and misinformation activity will be most prevalent this election cycle, targeting election-related systems and services.

These risks, also seen in at least the past two election cycles, are amplified by artificial intelligence, giving malicious actors cheaper, broader and faster deception methods according to researchers. This has led to an increase of altered videos or audio and deceptive pictures populating online, along with more targeted phishing attempts.

“The current threat environment favors operations that are inexpensive, scalable, and capable of producing outsize political or psychological impact,” the report states, adding these campaigns can “create confusion, reputational harm, and operational disruption without requiring direct compromise of core election infrastructure.”

Aaron Rose, security architect manager for Check Point, called it an “attack on the mind,” in a recent interview with The........

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