Late-game election security: What to watch and watch out…

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Despite disruption of the Trickbot botnet network, last-minute leaks of stolen documents and post-election undermining of trust in the election system remain big concerns.
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As we head into the final inning of what has been a dramatic US presidential election season, it’s clear the country has so far been spared the kind of high-stakes hacking and disinformation campaigns that marred the 2016 election. Still, US intel and cyber defense organizations are on the lookout for last-minute ransomware attacks and have been joined by their private sector counterparts while social media companies appear to be clamping down on disinformation efforts.

The most striking evidence that the US  may be better prepared than it was in 2016  is the extraordinary actions taken by US CyberCommand (CyberCom) to meddle with the Russian-language Trickbot botnet network, used to deliver malware, including ransomware, and frequently exploited by Russian military intelligence for plausible deniability. Following a scoop by journalist Brian Krebs that an unknown actor was meddling with Trickbot, news leaked over the weekend that CyberCom was the meddler.

CyberCom’s goal was to thwart any possible ransomware attacks on selected or strategically important jurisdictions. The military cyber arm might have also been pushed into action by a Trickbot-enabled ransomware attack on top healthcare provider Universal Health Services (UHS), which was forced to shutter digital operations when 400 of its computer systems were locked up by Ryuk ransomware.

This article appeared in CSO Online. To read the rest of the article please visit here.