Trump, Biden Campaign Staffers Targeted By APT Phishing Emails

Google TAG researchers warn that APTs are targeting campaign staffers for both Donald Trump and Joe Biden with phishing emails. Continue reading Trump, Biden Campaign Staffers Targeted By APT Phishing Emails

Here’s what Pete Buttigieg’s campaign CISO is worried about

Although the 2020 presidential race has become more crowded in recent weeks, Mick Baccio — the chief information security officer for Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg’s campaign — isn’t concerned. Baccio may be the only person on the South Bend, Indiana, mayor’s staff that isn’t worried about former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden or any of the other candidates. For him, the competition is foreign adversaries trying to hack into Buttigieg’s campaign infrastructure. “I don’t do politics. I’m just learning how the caucus works,” Baccio said during remarks at CYBERWARCON, a cybersecurity conference held Thursday in Arlington, Virginia. “I don’t care if it’s left or right, I care if it’s Russian or Iranian [intrusions]. That’s who I really [care about,] that’s the competitor.” His ultimate goal is making sure Buttigieg’s campaign doesn’t fall victim to the same intrusions that Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign […]

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FEC allows Harvard nonprofit to provide free cybersecurity services to campaigns

The Federal Election Commission has decided that Harvard’s Defending Digital Democracy Project’s non-profit, “Defending Digital Campaigns,” may provide free and low-cost cybersecurity services to political campaigns without violating campaign finance laws, given the fact that there is a “highly unusual and serious threat” posed to U.S. elections by foreign adversaries. The driving force behind the FEC’s advisory opinion, which FEC Chair Ellen Weintraub issued Tuesday, is the fact that there is a “demonstrated, currently enhanced threat of foreign cyberattacks against party and candidate committees,” she writes in the advisory. In the ruling. Weintraub notes the FEC’s decision in partly due to the other efforts by the government, primarily to expose and prosecuting foreign adversaries, has not done enough to protect campaigns and political parties. “[F]oreign cyberattacks, in which the attackers may not have any spending or physical presence in the United States, may present unique challenges to both criminal prosecution and […]

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