As the US Polls 2020 is fast approaching the next big question which is hitting the minds of most computer professionals is “Can the election infrastructure be saved from Cyber Attacks?
Well, as per a survey conducted by Venafi which took into account the opinion of more than 488 IT professionals, 70% of them believe that their local administration or the authorities at the national level are not in a position to safeguard the election infrastructure from cyberattacks emerging from adversaries. And 75% of them believe that the spread of fake news aka disinformation might prove as the greatest threat to the integrity of elections.
“As attackers are going sophisticated by targeting election-related devices with automated attacks the repercussions can be devastating”, said Kevin Bocek, the VP of Venafi’s Threat Intelligence.
It can hinder the democratic process of holding the elections with integrity and might induce of thought among the participating populace that the polling event was influenced by the foreign nation added Mr. Bocek.
As North America is about to go to polls in November this year, the election season has already began for Donald Trump even though he was facing a lot of criticism from those retaliating to the death of George Floyd.
Moreover, as COVID 19 complications have added an extra set of complications; state-funded hackers might take disadvantage of this uncertainty by spreading fake news among the populace to break up their confidence in the election holding process on a wholesome note.
So, most security professionals are in an opinion that the governments won’t be able to safeguard the poll infrastructure from cyber attacks.
Note- In January 2017, when Donald Trump was about to the take the oath as the 45Th President of United States, there was misinformation spread in the media that the 2016 Poll results were rigged and were influenced by Russian Intelligence who somehow worked on a strategy to favor Trump and his administration. A joint investigation carried out by the FBI and CIA under the supervision of the then-President Barack Obama also proved the same. After the oath ceremony, Donald Trump condemned the speculations published in some sources of National Media as false and added that some Yellow Journalists were on a political witch-hunt.
