Election meddling targets lack of cybersecurity awareness

Microsoft has detected cyberattacks from Russia, China, and Iran targeting people and organizations involved in the upcoming presidential election. Although the attempts were directed towards campaign officials, election interference comes in more shapes and forms, which voters have to be alerted about.

Election meddling starts with attempts to shape the beliefs of undecided voters. This is done by analyzing what content gains the user’s attention, which is then used to tailor personalized messages mimicking the user’s beliefs.

Why is it so easy to manipulate voters’ decisions?

Ever since the emergence of social media, users have been trusting it with an enormous amount of personal information. People build their online identities by sharing what they like and tweeting or commenting on topics that matter to them.

The lockdown made people spend significantly more time online, which has led to more digital footprints. At the same time, the number of controversial topics is on the rise. The year 2020 is packed with social turbulence, and engaging with it helps to determine where a voter stands on certain questions.

It’s all about the logs. Whenever a user watches a certain YouTube video, clicks on an ad, likes a comment, or simply doesn’t finish reading an article, their actions are logged. Clickstream data is vital in building profiles for targeting voters.

Lack of digital privacy awareness

When asked about what cybersecurity tools they use, only 11% of people mentioned VPN, according to Forrester. Most of them believe that cybersecurity tools are cyber hygiene essentials like multiple passwords or browsing history cleanups.

There is a lack of general awareness, and those wishing to interfere with the course of politics know that. Cambridge Analytica’s practices are used to this day, and users give away their data willingly, all of which helps to tailor political messages. This is a slow, but proven tactic.

What can internet users do?

The first thing is being aware of being monitored. Second, hiding browsing patterns makes it harder for meddlers to analyze them. VPN, like NordVPN, is a useful tool for keeping digital identity secure. It helps to conceal IP addresses, hide location, and keep data safe from monitoring.