Cyberattacks on Democracy

In just 252 days Americans will take to the polls to decide who will lead the country for the next four years. So it’s safe to say the pollical campaigns are underway, but so is the campaign to protect the 2020 election against cybercrime.

Cyber-attacks have become a real threat to governments - and political elections are no stranger to them either- we saw that firsthand in the 2016 election.

What issues could we see as we are in the thick of election season?

Ransomware Threat Looms

Ransomware, which is a type of cybercrime, could threaten the 2020 election. Essentially what the cybercriminals do is infect the computers of government organizations and then demand that they pay a ransom for an encryption code that releases their locked files and records. The fear is that cyber criminals could use ransomware as a method to lock down registration databases. If this were to happen, states would not be able to verify voters are in the right voting locations or even worse, if they are eligible to vote. We saw something similar in 2016 when Russian hackers targeted voter registration databases. That was one of the key revelations in a report filed by former special counsel Robert Mueller.

Paperless Voting Threat

Paperless or virtual voting may be the new norm in future elections, but it doesn’t come without its risks, and that is mostly due to the fact that they don’t leave a paper trail to cross verify.

J. Alex Halderman, who is a voting security expert and professor at the University of Michigan, explained in an online discussion that, “Voting systems that are connected to the internet are vulnerable to hackers. He said it took him and his students about 48 hours to gain full control and change the votes of an online voting system built for Washington, D.C.”

Halderman recommended, “moving to voting systems that use paper ballots. This might seem like a step backward, but it is believed that paper ballots would be less likely to be hacked.”

Proactive vs. Reactive Approach

Kim Barton, the supervisor of the Alachua County, Fla., Elections Office explained that with the spike in cyber attacks her department began looking at steps to take to prevent an attack years ago.

Barton explained that her office, “conducts ongoing training for employees to learn about possible threats, and how to respond in emergencies.” She also added that, “cyber experts ensure sure their data and hardware software is up to date”.

Like Alachua County FL, local and national governments, nonprofits, and election technology vendors should be on high alert.

Geoff Hale, who is the Cybersecurity Strategy and Integration Program Manager with The Department of Homeland Security, explained that his department’s local efforts will be primarily focused on, “helping people understand their susceptibility to phishing scams, as well as incident-response planning and vulnerability scanning. “First and foremost,” he said, “local governments should sign up to become members of EI-ISAC if they’re not already, and avail themselves of its resources.”

Elections are vulnerable, and local governments are even more so, so steps need to be taken to increase security. Kate Whitaker, who is a spokeswomen for Cyber Florida, a state funded group that aims to educate people about cybersecurity, explained that the number one comment smaller cities make is that they don’t have the budget or funds to overcome a cybersecurity issues. She went on to urge governments to find the room in their budgets because, "It's always cheaper to prevent these things than to clean up later.”

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Sources:

https://www.govtech.com/public-safety/Experts-Reiterate-Cybersecurity-Warnings-for-2020-Election.html

https://us.norton.com/internetsecurity-emerging-threats-2020-election-cybersecurity.html

https://www.govtech.com/security/Cybersecurity-and-Democracy-Collide-Locking-Down-Elections.html


About the Author: Taylor Genter   Taylor is the Marketing Specialist at Extract with experience in data analytics, graphic design, and both digital and social media marketing.  She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing at the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater. Taylor enjoys analyzing people’s behaviors and attitudes to find out what motivates them, and then curating better ways to communicate with them.