Political campaigns need to protect themselves from hacking and often don’t know where to start. The good news is that there are a few fundamentals that can dramatically reduce the likelihood and impact of cybersecurity incidents.
Definitions and terminology matter. For the policy-makers, technology companies, politicians, journalists, librarians, educators, academics, and civil society organisations all wrestling with the challenges posed by information disorder, agreeing to a shared vocabulary is essential.
In November 2017, the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs released “The Cybersecurity Campaign Playbook” for campaign professionals. In February 2018, it released a set of three U.S. elections playbooks designed to be used together by U.S.-based election administrators: “The State and Local Election Cybersecurity Playbook,” The Election Cyber Incident Communications Coordination Guide,” and “The Election Incident Communications Plan Template.”