From the “we better be paying attention to this” department comes Google’s recent Mandiant report that lists a dozen different ways cyber threat actors can influence elections. From the executive summary:
- The election cybersecurity landscape globally is characterized by a diversity of targets, tactics, and threats. Elections attract threat activity from a variety of threat actors including: state-sponsored actors, cyber criminals, hacktivists, insiders, and information operations as-a-service entities. Mandiant assesses with high confidence that state-sponsored actors pose the most serious cybersecurity risk to elections.
- Operations targeting election-related infrastructure can combine cyber intrusion activity, disruptive and destructive capabilities, and information operations, which include elements of public-facing advertisement and amplification of threat activity claims. Successful targeting does not automatically translate to high impact. Many threat actors have struggled to influence or achieve significant effects, despite their best efforts.
- When we look across the globe we find that the attack surface of an election involves a wide variety of entities beyond voting machines and voter registries. In fact, our observations of past cycles indicate that cyber operations target the major players involved in campaigning, political parties, news and social media more frequently than actual election infrastructure.
- Securing elections requires a comprehensive understanding of many types of threats and tactics, from distributed denial of service (DDoS) to data theft to deepfakes, that are likely to impact elections in 2024. It is vital to understand the variety of relevant threat vectors and how they relate, and to ensure mitigation strategies are in place to address the full scope of potential activity.
- Election organizations should consider steps to harden infrastructure against common attacks, and utilize account security tools such as Google’s Advanced Protection Program to protect high-risk accounts.
Madison Horn (OK-5) Congressional Candidate had this comment:
In the recent Mandiant report by Google, a range of cyber threats to elections is detailed, but the proliferation of mis- and disinformation campaigns stands out as particularly alarming. These campaigns, which meticulously erode trust in governmental institutions and corrupt democratic processes, pose a severe threat that transcends political lines and demands immediate action.
Driven by motives ranging from shifting electoral outcomes to undermining public confidence and generating profit, these disinformation efforts are often orchestrated by state-backed entities from nations such as China, Russia, and Iran. Their impact is undeniable, as seen in instances like Russia’s involvement in the 2016 U.S. election and China’s ongoing global influence operations, which starkly demonstrate their capacity to sway public opinion and disrupt electoral integrity.
The avenues for these campaigns are primarily popular social media platforms—X, Telegram, Facebook—and YouTube, making the digital battlefield as accessible as it is dangerous. The consequences are profound, resulting in increased voter disengagement, the rise of unqualified leaders, and the destabilization of nations.
This is an urgent security issue that cannot be politicized. The integrity of our democracy is in jeopardy, making it imperative that we elect officials who grasp the complexity of these modern challenges. We need leaders who are committed to implementing robust cybersecurity measures, enhancing digital literacy, and fostering international cooperation to counteract the pervasive influence of state-sponsored disinformation. Our response must be swift and resolute to safeguard our democratic processes.
My opinion is that we all need to be paying attention to this and acting on this report to make sure that elections regardless of where they are are conducted in a free and fair manner without interference. The thing that concerns me is that we live in such a partisan environment at the moment that this could become a partisan issue. And it shouldn’t be regardless wherever on the political spectrum you happen to be on.
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This entry was posted on April 27, 2024 at 8:14 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Google, Mandiant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Google/Mandiant To The World: There are Lots Of Cyber Threats That Can Influence Elections
From the “we better be paying attention to this” department comes Google’s recent Mandiant report that lists a dozen different ways cyber threat actors can influence elections. From the executive summary:
Madison Horn (OK-5) Congressional Candidate had this comment:
In the recent Mandiant report by Google, a range of cyber threats to elections is detailed, but the proliferation of mis- and disinformation campaigns stands out as particularly alarming. These campaigns, which meticulously erode trust in governmental institutions and corrupt democratic processes, pose a severe threat that transcends political lines and demands immediate action.
Driven by motives ranging from shifting electoral outcomes to undermining public confidence and generating profit, these disinformation efforts are often orchestrated by state-backed entities from nations such as China, Russia, and Iran. Their impact is undeniable, as seen in instances like Russia’s involvement in the 2016 U.S. election and China’s ongoing global influence operations, which starkly demonstrate their capacity to sway public opinion and disrupt electoral integrity.
The avenues for these campaigns are primarily popular social media platforms—X, Telegram, Facebook—and YouTube, making the digital battlefield as accessible as it is dangerous. The consequences are profound, resulting in increased voter disengagement, the rise of unqualified leaders, and the destabilization of nations.
This is an urgent security issue that cannot be politicized. The integrity of our democracy is in jeopardy, making it imperative that we elect officials who grasp the complexity of these modern challenges. We need leaders who are committed to implementing robust cybersecurity measures, enhancing digital literacy, and fostering international cooperation to counteract the pervasive influence of state-sponsored disinformation. Our response must be swift and resolute to safeguard our democratic processes.
My opinion is that we all need to be paying attention to this and acting on this report to make sure that elections regardless of where they are are conducted in a free and fair manner without interference. The thing that concerns me is that we live in such a partisan environment at the moment that this could become a partisan issue. And it shouldn’t be regardless wherever on the political spectrum you happen to be on.
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This entry was posted on April 27, 2024 at 8:14 am and is filed under Commentary with tags Google, Mandiant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.