Cyberattackers may overwhelm election-related websites with traffic to block access to information such as unofficial vote counts happening on election night, according to the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The federal officials’ early warning called attention to the prospect of Distributed Denial of Service attacks on election infrastructure and election-adjacent websites that the officials say will not disrupt the vote.

“These low-level attacks, which are expected to continue as we approach the 2024 U.S. general election, could disrupt the availability of some election-related functions, like voter look-up tools or unofficial election night reporting, during the election cycle but will not impact voting itself,” the FBI and CISA said in an announcement. “Threat actors may falsely claim that DDoS attacks are indicative of a compromise related to the elections process as they seek to undermine confidence in U.S. elections.”

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The agencies’ public service announcement issued last week said such DDoS attacks would crash websites temporarily but not penetrate voting systems.

“In the event that foreign actors or cyber criminals conduct DDoS attacks against election infrastructure or other infrastructure supporting election administration, the underlying data and internal systems would remain uncompromised, and anyone eligible to vote would still be able to cast a ballot,” the agencies’ announcement said. “In the past, cyber actors have falsely claimed DDoS attacks have compromised the integrity of voting systems to mislead the public that their attack would prevent a voter from casting a ballot or change votes already cast.”

Cyberattackers hunt for internet-accessible servers and public-facing websites that can be overwhelmed with traffic in DDoS attacks or defaced with sinister messages.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence acknowledged uncovering efforts to scan election infrastructure during a briefing with reporters last week.

“We haven’t seen any efforts by foreign actors to conduct what we consider election interference, which is to prevent the United States from conducting [an] election,” an intelligence official told reporters. “There [are], however, efforts to scan networks related to election infrastructure.”

Officials declined to share details during the briefing about the foreign foes alleged to be scanning America’s infrastructure.

Any disruption in the public reporting of unofficial voting results on election night in key precincts and battleground states across the country could spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt about the integrity of the ballot.

The FBI and CISA are urging voters to prepare for such chaos by seeking out information from official sources and recommending people contact state and local election officials if election office websites appear offline.

“The FBI and CISA have no reporting to suggest a DDoS attack has ever prevented an eligible voter from casting a ballot, compromised the integrity of any ballots cast, or disrupted the ability to tabulate votes or transmit election results in a timely manner,” the agencies said.

Election officials across the country have alternative channels to disseminate info to voters, including news outlets and direct messaging to voters, according to the agencies.

The federal agencies said election officials also have incident response plans, backup processes, and multiple safeguards in place that are intended to limit the impact of a DDoS attack on election operations.