Microsoft is said to have bagged the permission from Federal Election Commission(FEC) to offer special assistance to all US election candidates vulnerable to cyber threats. The decision is said to have been approved with a 4-0 vote by the commissioners of FEC during a meet on September 6th,2018.
Thence, all election sensitive customers will get a special assistance called “Account Guard” from the OS giant hereafter. And the special Cybersecurity assistance will be given without violating the election campaign finance rules.
Microsoft has set this program in order to respond to heightened concerns following Russian Interference in the 2016 presidential elections.
Cybersecurity Insiders has learned that Microsoft’s advisory to help election candidates were put forward before the FEC by John Baran, the election law attorney working for Wiley Rein.
Baran assured that Microsoft’s Account Guard will help election candidates secure their email accounts and other web services like Skype conversations from being hacked. He also emphasized that the Satya Nadella led company wants to help not only individuals but also government agencies and even nonprofit organizations from being targets to cyber threats.
An objection over a certain set of rules was raised by the Campaign Legal Center(CLC) in this regard. But after getting an assurance from Microsoft that the ruling will not open the door to corporate companies providing free goods and services to candidates, the CLC chose to endorse it.
On reviewing all the content of Baran, the FEC approved the advisory with an assurance that it has potential to mitigate all range of cyber threats from US Cyber Adversaries.
