Hacking Democracy: A Strategic Correlation of Elections and Malware

In politics today, there is no hotter topic than election hacking. Information technology is vulnerable, the Internet is global, and hackers rarely get caught. Therefore, politicians, soldiers, and spies have every incentive to leverage malware in an effort to tip the polls their way. Nonetheless, election hacking has been difficult to prove. At a minimum, security researchers need at least one of two things: tactical forensics acquired at the local level, or strategic analysis of a global dataset. The research presented in this webinar takes the latter approach. Comodo Cybersecurity's Chief Research Scientist, Dr. Kenneth Geers, will examine - In-country malware detection in the context of dozens of national-level elections held over the past 18 months - Detected malware types and families for each election, using both timelines and geolocation. This research serves as a warning for the upcoming U.S. Election in November 2018. First, it demonstrates a strong correlation between modern elections and malware. Second, it shows security administrators what kind of malware they are most likely to see during a campaign – and when.