Operational Security — Election Security Glossary
53 election security terms in the Operational Security category, with definitions sourced from NIST, CISA, EAC, and 30+ authoritative documents.
Browse all 53 terms in Operational Security
Continuity Of Government (cog)
A coordinated effort within the Federal Government's executive branch to ensure that national essential functions continue to be performed during a catastrophic emergency.
Cold Site
A backup facility that has the necessary electrical and physical components of a computer facility, but does not have the computer equipment in place.
Command And Control
. The exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commander over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission.
Comsec Account Audit
Inventory and reconciliation of the holdings, records, and procedures of a COMSEC account ensuring all accountable COMSEC material is properly handled and safeguarded.
Comsec Material Control System (cmcs)
The logistics and accounting system through which COMSEC material marked CRYPTO is distributed, controlled, and safeguarded.
Comsec Training
Teaching of skills relating to COMSEC accounting and the use of COMSEC aids.
Concept Of Operations (conop)
See security concept of operations.
Contingency Key
Key held for use under specific operational conditions or in support of specific contingency plans.
Contingency Plan
Management policy and procedures used to guide an enterprise response to a perceived loss of mission capability.
Continuity Of Operations Plan
A document that sets forth procedures for the continued performance of core capabilities and critical operations during any disruption or potential disruption.
Continuity Of The Economy (cote)
An effort to ensure that critical data and technology would be available, with priority for critical functions across corporations and industry sectors, to get the economy back up…
Controls
A device, procedure, or subsystem, which when properly designed and implemented, ensures correctness of operation in a system.
By ESG Editorial Team · Drawing on CISA operational guidance, EAC checklists, and 25+ sources on election-day procedures
Operational security is the set of day-to-day practices, procedures, and habits that keep election operations running safely. Unlike a firewall or an encrypted protocol, operational security is not a single product. It is a culture: the way a county office handles a phone call, how a vendor ships a laptop, the procedure a poll worker follows when opening a polling place at 6 a.m.
Why this category matters for election security is that most failures are not the result of sophisticated attacks. They are the result of someone being tired, being misled, or being in a hurry. A strong operational security program builds in double-checks, time for verification, and procedures that work even when the people executing them are new, stressed, or unsure.
The federal government, through the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the Election Assistance Commission, publishes operational guidance for election offices. That guidance typically covers physical security, cyber hygiene, phishing awareness, and incident planning. State election directors and professional associations add their own layers, often focused on poll worker training and chain of custody procedures.
The terminology in this category reflects the everyday nature of the work. The concepts here are not abstract. They describe what a county IT director does on a Monday morning, or what a poll worker does when a voter disputes a provisional ballot.
How These Terms Relate
These concepts together describe the practical, day-to-day security of running an election. Operational security is where cybersecurity and physical security meet procedure, training, and culture. Chain of custody, two-person integrity, and physical access controls are not new inventions. They are practices that have governed sensitive operations (banking, military logistics, public accounting) for decades. The terminology here adapts that lineage to the specific demands of running a fair, accurate, and defensible election.
Related categories
1,851 terms
The technical security layer that operational practices complement.
Physical Security23 terms
The physical controls that operational security depends on.
Personnel1 terms
The people whose training and conduct determine whether operational security works.
Access Control115 terms
Identity and authorization rules that gate access to systems and facilities.
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