As 2024 prepares to be a big election year with elections in 64 different countries, the democratic process faces new challenges. AI threats.
A Recent Survey of Hardware Authentication Security Key Vendor Yubico and the nonprofit cybersecurity organization Defending Digital Campaigns found that both Democrats and Republicans believe AI will have a negative effect on the upcoming U.S. election.
Examining the nature of the threat AI poses to elections, Yubico’s Niall McConachie speaks to Verdictexplaining how the threat has increased since the last election and how cyber security and data keys could help mitigate voter manipulation.
What threat does AI pose to the democratic process in the upcoming global elections?
McConachie: As the 2024 election season gathers pace, it’s clear that AI and cybersecurity will play a crucial role in shaping the election landscape. Unfortunately, those involved in the 2024 campaigns can expect more vigorous phishing attacks, data thefts, ransomware, and disinformation efforts.
The threat of AI in this year’s election cycle has raised significant concerns, particularly regarding the spread of misinformation via AI-generated content such as deepfakes. Manipulated content can be used to undermine democratic discourse and electoral integrity.
With this in mind, it is more essential than ever that voters remain vigilant against suspicious behavior, which could come from foreign adversaries or domestic actors seeking to falsify election results.
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By GlobalData
How much has the threat increased since previous major election years? Is this increased threat due to technological advances?
Sudden advances in AI technology have led to uncertainty about the impact of this technology on the democratic process. According to a recent survey from Yubico, Defending Digital Campaigns and OnePoll, 78% of voters are concerned about the use of AI-generated content to impersonate a political candidate or create inauthentic content, and the impact this could have on this year’s elections. The threat perceived by voters is certainly real, as 43% believe AI-generated content will negatively impact the outcome of the 2024 election.
As AI continues to develop, it poses a growing threat to elections. For example, AI has the ability to clone voices that could be used to realistically impersonate politicians in videos or deepfakes. In fact, when an audio clip with an AI voice was played to respondents, 41% felt the AI voice was authentically human. This demonstrates one of the ways in which advances in AI can significantly threaten voting choices.
What cybersecurity measures are needed to defend against voter manipulation?
It is crucial that voters can have confidence in the democratic process. Of data security From this perspective, 85% of voters are not really convinced that political campaigns effectively protect the personal information they collect. To solve this problem, politicians and those involved in campaigns must ensure that voters are protected from manipulation and that their personal data is kept secure.
There are a number of effective measures politicians can implement to defend against voter manipulation and prevent website hacking. Using strong account security measures, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) in the form of a hardware security key, is crucial. Additionally, it is important to have policies in place to train staff members or volunteers in cybersecurity best practices to protect the campaign as well as personal information.
How can data keys help protect the democratic process?
It is imperative that candidates take the necessary steps to protect their campaigns and build voter confidence. By adopting modern cybersecurity practices such as phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication in the form of a physical hardware key, politicians add a layer of security that protects cloud, social and financial accounts linked to their campaign, as well as personal accounts and all the main targets of attacks. bad actors.
Hardware security keys, like the YubiKey, can store access keys, which can be used to log in to applications and services quickly and securely. Passwords for these security keys cannot be copied and authentication is only possible on verified sites, so account credentials are never provided to malicious websites. By using hardware security keys to protect personal and business accounts, politicians can stay safe even if users are fooled by a sophisticated phishing attack.
