CAMPAIGNS IN THE CROSSHAIRS

Political campaigns are ramping up their protections, worrying the next in a rising number of ransomware attacks could target them.

Cyber criminals have gone after an ever-increasing number of targets, from Colonial Pipeline to JBS USA. And political campaigns are painfully familiar with risks after the 2016 attacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

“I think we have already seen Armageddon in what happened in 2016 at the DNC,” said Jesse Thomas, senior director of impact and mobilization of the Democratic firm Bully Pulpit Interactive.

Russian hackers leaked thousands of Democratic National Committee emails ahead of the 2016 presidential election, doing damage to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

“That was absolutely as bad as it could possibly get to have full penetration of the network and then having your internal documents used and weaponized,” Thomas added.