Managing unknown risks in the next election
As the nation heads into the 2020 election cycle, experts disagree over whether the nation should expect the same type of cyber threats and influence campaigns experienced in 2016 or if we should expect the unexpected.
Matthew Masterson, a senior advisor at the Department of Homeland Security focusing on election security, said that he spends “a lot of time thinking through that undermining confidence [angle] and ways that we can build that resilience.” Speaking at an April 23 cybersecurity conference, he told the audience that “the reality is you don’t actually even have to touch a system to push a narrative that undermines confidence in the elections process.”
Liisa Past, former chief research officer at the Cyber Security Branch of the Estonian Information System Authority, said at the same event that election influence campaigns operate on multiple fronts.
“It really illustrates the adversarial activity, which is that they’re throwing spaghetti at the walls,” said Past. “Cyber is one wall, misinformation, disinformation and social media is another…
