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Election 2008 Faces Cybercrime Risks
David Utter
Staff Writer
2007-10-09
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The various threats that plague users of technology could be a problem for the people who want to settle in to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with an election win next year.
 | | Election 2008 Faces Cybercrime Risks |  |
Server injection attacks and smart phone spyware could turn a candidate's fortunes upside-down if they manage to find their way into a Presidential hopeful's technology resources.
That's the assessment made by Symantec researcher Oliver Friedrichs. He recounted a recent panel discussion at Carnegie Mellon where the Presidential race and potential cyber threats were one of the topics of discussion.
The campaign managers for candidate web campaigns have not done a good job in protecting their bosses from domain name and typo squatting abuse, said Friedrichs. Symantec's analysis of 17 well known candidates for domain squatters found some "interesting" results that Friedrichs regrettably did not share, as it is being saved for his forthcoming book in February 2008 on cybercrime.
Friedrichs mentioned website security, which has been an issue due to the success of code injection attacks against sites like the one for Dolphin Stadium ahead of the last Super Bowl. Competing campaigns could load up an opponent's website with fake messages, or even malicious code.
Also, candidate John McCain suffered online embarrassment when his campaign purloined a MySpace template for his presence, and the template's creator retaliated by replacing a hotlinked image with one declaring McCain's support for "gay marriage...particularly marriage between two passionate females."
Threats extend beyond the PC. Spyware applications that run on smart-phones could be used to grab everything a candidate says, including stuff that isn't meant for public consumption, and made public in an inopportune time.
Campaigns have security challenges ahead of them. One candidate's supporter could be the person who attacks another candidate, making that candidate suffer from the results.
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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