Next week, the National Republican Convention will take place in Cleveland, OH. Already, there’s talk of hackers targeting this election process. Will hackers target the Republican Convention?
Cyber security is a top concern. According to CIO (chief information officer) Max Everett, they’re already a number of ‘phishing’ incidents and hackers looking for weak spots. Everett assures there hasn’t been many specific threats, yet. It’s not just opposing threats that worry Everett. Hackers associated with the Russian government attacked the Democratic National Committee. Trump’s campaign has been target. It’s Russian and Chinese hackers that concern Everett and other cyber security experts. Of course, as contentious as this election has been, even an amateur could cause chaos at the Quicken Loans Arena. Cyber-threats for political conventions are different from cyber-threats for business. Employees are new. Employees are temporary. Each staffer has at least one mobile device connected to the convention’s online network. Many will have two or more. Managers are on alert as well. They’re reminding employees of common sense cyber security. Everett is testing ‘dark cube’. This dark cube will analysis where Internet data is coming from. It captures the IP address. It determines if that IP addresses means to do harm. Smart tactic. But will it work?
Some security needs to be in order. Like I said, this is the most contentious election I ever lived through (I wasn’t around in the 1960s.) Add tensions with Russia. Add tensions with China. This could be a perfect storm of a major hack fest. Yes, there were security preparations in previous elections. Yes, those conventions came out generally unscathed. But these are not the previous election. Some hater dreams of making a name for himself. Fellow haters will cheer him on. Hacking will give him that opportunity. The hater could be in China or Russia. The hater could be literally next door. Should cyber security be a concern?