With elections incoming, deepfakes are just the tip of the iceberg

This week millions of us in the UK will exercise our democratic right and vote in this year’s local elections where 107 authorities, the London Assembly and over 30 police & crime commissioners will be elected. This will be followed by a general election which will decide the government for the next five, possibly ten, years.

All this is valuable context in the midst of what has been and is continuing to be a record-breaking year for cybercrime for all the wrong reasons.

The UK is taking unprecedented action this year to help curb cybercrime, having helped shut down Lockbit towards the end of February, as well as successfully shutting down LabHost in April. Simultaneously, legislation is being drafted that will see the creation of sexually explicit deepfakes be a criminal offence. Safe to say, proactive steps are being taken!

It is important to note however that whilst this proactivity is very much welcomed both by the consumer and businesses who otherwise would be at threat, less ‘newsworthy’ dangers such as phishing, credential stuffing, ransomware and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks continue to run rampant and arguably pose greater risks to the public and economy.

With this in mind, it’s important to look at and assess the risks facing the UK’s electorate and businesses this year and how best they can tackle these threats head-on.

Invading Infrastructure

One of the most, if not the most, attractive targets of attack for the prospective cybercriminal when attacking an impending election, is to attack the very infrastructure used to host the election itself.

There are ample avenues for cybercriminals to attack when it comes to the election infrastructure including:

– Voter databases: a successful large-scale attack on a voter registration database could have immense repercussions for an election.

– Voting technology: disrupting the machines and technology used to vote on the actual day would naturally impact the electorate’s ability to exercise their democratic right.

These attacks can range from distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks aimed at disrupting voting processes to sophisticated hacking attempts aimed at manipulating voter data or altering election results. These vulnerabilities in election systems, widespread inadequate cybersecurity measures, and insufficient investment in cybersecurity infrastructure can exacerbate the risk of such attacks on vital infrastructure.

Irrespective of the scale of the attacks, a huge cost typically follows a successful attack. In 2023, the average cost of a data breach in the financial services sector amounted to $5.9 million, a substantial amount that could undoubtedly impact election infrastructure. Governments also need to keep in mind the reputational costs associated with a cyber breach, and any impact on election infrastructure which could have a detrimental effect on voter turnout if confidence is lost.

Gone Phishing

Multiple reports from Trustwave have highlighted that phishing is the number one threat facing industries such as education. healthcare and financial services.

With the strong presence of phishing throughout the chequered world of cybercrime, it’s safe to assume that with the volume of elections going on throughout the world in 2024, we’re likely to see this upward trajectory continue. Examples of this include scammers pretending to be election pollsters in order to obtain sensitive voter information.

Once they’ve managed to obtain this information it is used in the traditional methods that other phishing scams are conducted for, utilising the data for monetary gain or in other circumstances, selling the data. With that sensitive information and data to hand, cybercriminals can use credential stuffing to their advantage, utilising bespoke software that tests the credential’s validity and streamlining their ability to access personal accounts.

Beware, ransomware

Ransomware is one of the most devastating cybercrimes out there, often targeting civilians by holding their sensitive data hostage until a payment is made. However, when it comes to elections, ransomware gangs might look to attack the critical infrastructure of said elections, targeting the people who work for those companies as well.

A notable example of this in action happened during the 2016 US presidential election when the state voter registration systems of Arizona were targeted by ransomware groups. This demonstrated the capability ransom cybercrime can have on the electorate and infrastructure needed for an election. The metaphoric blood is in the water and it’s highly likely that we’ll see more attempts to use ransomware in the future in elections for both financial and political gain.

In 2024, four billion people will be eligible to vote in some sort of election. This unprecedented volume of elections and voters provides a huge opportunity for prospective cybercriminals who could look to benefit from any interruption they’re able to execute. As highlighted above there are a number of prolific ways in which would-be cybercriminals could have a huge impact.

As with private companies, consumers and everything in between, our advice is always to assume the worst and be prepared for it. Governments should be looking to the cybersecurity industry to help them with a strategy for ensuring elections are kept safe.

The threats facing elections are varied and the severity of impact is an attractive prospect to any cybercriminal both financially and politically when it comes to disrupting elections. Deepfake-related cybercrime can drive up a surge in disinformation as we’ve already started to see in America with ‘robocalls’ of Joe Biden. Couple this with the ransomware, phishing and DDoS threats lying in wait, ensuring correct investment is driven into cybersecurity is integral.

By bringing all the tricks of the trade, new products and services such as threat intelligence and ‘pink teaming’ (a hybrid of red teaming) governments will help guarantee that the swathe of elections happening in 2024 can be as safe as possible and can help ensure that the electorate feel confident in their countries election infrastructure.