Hackers Are Tampering With Our Presidential Election

We’ve seen cyber hackers breaching our water plants. Stealing millions of Americans' Social Security information from data brokers. And poking around our power grids.

And now they’re interfering with our 2024 presidential election. Which is still 11 weeks away.

Today I want to discuss who they’re targeting and what the FBI and other U.S. officials are trying to do about it.

But before we turn to the upcoming election, I want to touch on three other hacking problems. Each has the potential to affect us every day. Not only on Election Day.

U.S. Water Plants Breached

Clean water is vital to our lives. Especially for drinking. But also for cooking, bathing, washing clothes, and cleaning surfaces.

That’s why it was disturbing to learn recently that Russian hackers are breaching U.S. water plants.

And even more disturbing is this. American officials admitting the laxity of security practices at water plants.

Jake Sullivan is the U.S. National Security Adviser. He ordered water authorities to shore up their cyber defenses. By updating equipment and establishing stronger passwords. Why water officials would need this reminder is baffling. Seems pretty basic.

China Infiltrates Computer Networks

Of course, our water supply is not the only thing foreign hackers target. A hacking group known as Volt Typhoon is linked to the Chinese government. They’ve been going after U.S. computer networks for at least a year.

The Biden Administration has warned China to back off. But China has ignored the warnings. Sherrod DeGrippo is director of threat intelligence strategy at Microsoft.

He says, “Volt Typhoon is active to this day. Have they stopped? Absolutely not. Will they stop? Doubt it.” The U.S. is concerned China will activate its intrusions into U.S. infrastructure. That’s if we try to aid Taiwan if it’s attacked by China.

Volt Typhoon has been particularly active in infiltrating networks in Guam. Why? Because that’s where a U.S. response could originate in the case of an attack on Taiwan.

Social Security Numbers Stolen

Do you know your Social Security number by heart? Most of us do. The problem is, a growing number of people might also know your number.

Recently we learned a large amount of sensitive personal information was hacked. It was stolen from a major data broker.

Now, some of it is showing up free of charge on an online marketplace for stolen personal data. Here’s how a Los Angeles Times headline from last week reads. “Hackers May Have Stolen the Social Security Numbers of Every American.” 

Teresa Murray is a consumer watchdog director. She works for the U.S. Public Information Research Group. She said this could result in identity theft, fraud, and other crimes.

FBI Investigating Hacking Campaigns

Back to the upcoming presidential election. The FBI has confirmed it is investigating reports of hacking by Iranians.

They stole internal documents. Including a “dirty laundry dossier” of potential JD Vance vulnerabilities.

Hackers targeted the Donald Trump-Vance campaign. And the previous Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign. The Trump campaign confirmed the hacking of some of its internal communications. By “foreign sources hostile to the United States.”

A Trump campaign director added this about the hacking. It was “intended to interfere with the 2024 election. And sow chaos throughout our democratic process.”

Iran Denies Involvement

Earlier this month, a Microsoft threat intelligence report stated this. “Iranian actors have recently laid the groundwork for influence operations aimed at U.S. audiences. And potentially seeking to impact the 2024 U.S. presidential election.”

The likely source is an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence unit. Known as Mint Sandstorm.

The original email was a spear-phishing attack in June. It came from a compromised email account. Owned by a former senior advisor of an undisclosed campaign.

It contained a hyperlink that directed traffic through an “actor-controlled” domain. Before redirecting it to the listed domain. The Iranian government denied involvement. It claimed it “neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere.”

Hacking Close Election Called ‘Consequential’

Digital newspaper company Politico reported this recently. They’ve been “receiving emails from an anonymous account. With documents from inside Trump’s operation.”

Newsweek magazine wrote that the hacks “don’t bode well for the coming months in the lead-up to the election. And point to foreign online influence on the electoral process becoming a major threat.”

Ryan Ellis is an assistant professor at Northeastern University. He researches communication law and policy. As well as infrastructure politics and cybersecurity. Here’s what he says.

“Collecting intelligence on foreign actors is as old as time. Collecting intelligence and electively deploying it. We’ve seen a lot of that in this environment. Hack and lead campaigns are not new, but in a close election they can be very consequential.”

This fall’s presidential election was already going to be tumultuous. Now we can add foreign hacking to the raucous mix.

Do what you can to secure your online information. And be ready to protect your water supply in case local water plant breaches occur.