FEC approves anti-spearphishing service for campaigns at low cost

The Federal Election Commission approved a request Thursday from an anti-spearphishing company, deeming it permissible for the security vendor to provide its services to campaigns and political parties at a discount without violating campaign laws. The FEC expressed trepidation last month over whether it could approve the request from a company, Area 1 Security, to provide low or no cost services to campaigns. A debate stemmed from FEC concerns that a security firm, by offering a markdown on normally expensive services to campaigns, could inappropriately curry favor with lawmakers. This decision is one in a series of approvals the FEC has issued in recent months as it recognizes the serious threat foreign adversaries pose to U.S. elections. “Area 1 has cleared the way for candidates to arm themselves with the best technology available to protect against a repeat of the disastrous cyber-intrusions in prior election cycles,” Dan Petalas, outside counsel for Area 1, told CyberScoop. Area 1 now has […]

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Will Democrats share all cyber threat intel with Donald Trump in 2020?

Imagine this: Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign and, let’s say, Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign working together closely on cyber threat and incident intelligence sharing. Every sensitive piece of information and forensics on hacking attempts passed between the two opposing organizations. Given what we know about the 2016 presidential campaign, the scenario seems like a longshot. However, it’s closer to reality than most would think. That scenario is one possible outcome of a newly launched project promoting an Information Sharing and Analysis Organization (ISAO) among U.S. political campaigns. The overall project, Defending Digital Democracy, launched in July at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. This month, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook and Mitt Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades announced the ISAO as the DDD’s first priority. In the wake of the most high-profile campaign hacking in American history, it’s a critical security point that’s received a lot of support. The specifics — including the possibility of […]

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