THE COVER

US Election 2024: What’s going on?

Earlier this April, US President Joe Biden announced his reelection campaign, settling the long debate about whether the 80-year-old would contest again. The announcement comes months after former US President Donald Trump launched his campaign in November.

As of July 2023, three Democratic presidential candidates and 13 Republican candidates are at the fore, intensifying the already crowded race to be the 47th US President. While there is still time for the two main US political parties to choose a 2024 nominee formally, many anticipate a rematch of the 2020 US elections between Biden and Trump!

The stage is set, and the election war will soon begin as contenders gear up to launch their campaigns. However, one pressing issue that may need immediate attention, even more than the presidential candidates, is cybersecurity.

At all costs, it cannot be overlooked because the stakes are too high! Cybersecurity risks are closer than one may anticipate, and what may have been averted in 2016 could be the downfall of the US security systems, gravely impacting the US elections in 2024.

Dramatic much? Not really.

Before delving deeper into the cybersecurity aspects of the upcoming US elections, it is essential to brush up on the 2016 cybersecurity incidents to understand how miscreants from Iran and Russia meddled with the US elections. We basically want to save you the time of Googling the topic.

US Elections 2016: Who got hacked?

Russian hackers carried out a widespread campaign targeting various political organizations, state election systems, and individuals associated with election campaigns during the 2016 United States presidential election.

The hacking incident led to the breach of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) email servers, where unauthorized actors gained access to DNC emails and leaked them to the public through websites like WikiLeaks. This had significant implications for the election, and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign was the most affected one. The emails were critical of Clinton and her campaign, giving the impression that Clinton was untrustworthy and out of touch with ordinary Americans.

In particular, the emails revealed that Clinton’s campaign had tried to rig the DNC primary against Bernie Sanders. These allegations further damaged Clinton’s reputation and made it more difficult for her to win over voters.

The release of the DNC emails led to a decline in Clinton’s favorability ratings. According to a Gallup poll conducted in October 2016, Clinton’s favorability rating was 41%, down from 55% in July 2016.

What followed was conflict, mistrust, and controversies within the Democratic Party. Widespread concern about the potential interference of foreign entities in the election process and questions about the security and resilience of election systems.

Also, Hillary Clinton lost the US presidential campaign, with Donald Trump becoming the 45th US President.

US Elections 2020: What went wrong here?

Like 2016, hacker collectives and foreign threat actors, particularly those associated with Russia, Iran, and China, ran multiple campaigns to disrupt the 2020 US Elections. They conducted a series of cyberattacks targeting election infrastructure, voter registration databases, and political campaigns.

The most significant attack was a Russian hacking operation that targeted state and local election officials. The hackers gained access to the networks of several election officials and stole sensitive information, such as voter registration data and passwords.

Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic posed several cybersecurity challenges, such as online voting system vulnerabilities, misinformation campaigns, and phishing attacks that undermined public trust in the electoral process.

Why US Elections in 2024 will be scarier?

The 2016 US Election hacking incident was an eye-opener for the US government. The 2020 cyber-attacks highlighted cybersecurity issues that needed to be addressed.

However, the upcoming 2024 US Election poses a bigger and evidently diverse set of challenges.

Apart from foreign adversaries, disinformation campaigns, false intelligence, phishing emails, and social media targeting, the US government will now be dealing with misuse of Generative AI, Deepfakes, and the much-talked-about Twitter (Now X.com) changes, especially the blue tick verification, which now is accessible to anyone after paying a fee.

Why the use of Generative AI, Deepfake, by presidential candidates is a cause of concern?

Earlier this June, the official Twitter account of Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis’ rapid response team posted a video featuring images of former President Donald Trump hugging Anthony Fauci.

Criticizing Trump’s endorsement of Fauci, the video caption read, “Donald Trump became a household name by FIRING countless people *on television* But when it came to Fauci…”