Tech companies volunteer to help political campaigns avoid cyberattacks
The offers have been made to help bolster security against foreign cyberattacks
An increasing number of cybersecurity companies are offering free or discounted nonpartisan support to political campaigns ahead of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
The trend is due in part to efforts by the Federal Election Commission and other regulators to ease restrictions on such offerings to campaigns after receiving feedback from nonprofits and tech companies like Microsoft.
One firm, Cloudfare, has announced that it would be offering free security services, including security tools like firewall protection, denial-of-service (DDoS) attack mitigation and internal data management and security controls to eligible U.S. political campaigns.
"Given the increase and sophistication of foreign election interference efforts, there is a clear need to help campaigns improve the security of not only their websites and other public-facing assets, but also their internal data security systems and teams," Couldflare founder and CEO Matthew Prince said in a statement. "This is our way of providing best practices and no-brainer solutions to not only large campaigns, but also smaller, but equally important campaigns that may have limited resources."
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Microsoft has also extended services to campaigns but will soon join the nonprofit group Defending Digital Campaigns in an effort to "help increase adoption of these services," DDC director Ginny Badanes said, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Campaigns have had trouble taking adequate cybersecurity precautions due to tight budgets and federal restrictions, but the hacking industry grows more complex and valuable every day.
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In October, the National Security Agency and its British equivalent discovered Russian intelligence agencies were infiltrating Iranian hacking networks and attacking more than 35 countries under the guise of Iran, highlighting Russia's growing technological capabilities in influencing foreign matters.
Many already blame Russia for influencing the 2016 U.S. presidential election, which exacerbated tension between Democrats and Republicans and concerns over how easily foreign countries can cheat the system.
These offers also come after many experts speculated the possibility of a cyberattack from Iran against the U.S. when President Trump ordered a missile strike to kill the Iranian Revolutionary Guard General Qasem Soleimani on Jan. 3.