Watch For New Targeted Political Phishing Scams

Yes, it is indeed true that the FBI is issuing warnings to systems administrators of state electoral board systems in the U.S. about potential attacks during the general election this fall.  However, it is unlikely that any of the voting locations will be targeted by the Russians, or anyone else for a cyberattack. In fact, while some may use computerized voting machines, many voters will still use mail in ballots, punch cards, or those annoying Scantron forms where you fill in the little bubble completely with a number 2 pencil. And those that do use the computerized machines don’t have to worry either. Those are not connected to the Internet.

So, what’s the problem?

It seems that indeed someone is targeting the voter databases across the country. The Illinois Election Board was attacked in June, and in August there was an unsuccessful attempt to steal voter information from Arizona’s files. Whoever is doing this seems to want names, email addresses, political affiliation, and other information on voters and reportedly got 200,000 of them in the Illinois incident. However, it’s more likely the stolen data is to be used to conduct targeted politics-related phishing scams. You see, if hackers have your name, email address, and political party affiliation, they can make more realistic looking adware, email messages, or other lures that might be more likely to convince you to click them; particularly in this very combative and heated election.

Like most big or newsworthy events, such as the Olympics, Super Bowl, or a big scandal or the death of a celebrity, those wanting to spread malware pounce on these and use them against the unsuspecting Internet user. This election is no exception.

What can you do?

So don’t let emotions get to you and randomly click on ads, attachments, or links that either tout or slam your preferred candidate. Just because the sender of an email appears to be someone known, be it a friend, family member, or work colleague, it doesn’t mean that it is that person. Those “sender” addresses are not difficult to fake, so verify if any unexpected links or attachments are safe before clicking. If there is any doubt what so ever, contact the sender separately (by phone or new email message) and confirm. Hover over links to see where they go. If it doesn’t go where you expect it to, don’t click it. It’s that simple.

Advertisements are bit trickier. If you’re one to click those, be absolutely certain they don’t contain malware. Those are difficult to detect. In fact, Yahoo ads, through no fault of Yahoo’s, were riddled with them not long ago. So use extra caution on those. If you never click on them anyway, consider using ad-blocking software. If you see something you do want to research further, go directly to the company’s or political organization’s website to check it out or call their customer service or general information lines for more information.

And like those tech support scams where they call you on the telephone and try to "help" you with a computer issue you didn't know you had, be aware that someone may be calling you on the phone purportedly for political polling or other reasons, asking for private details. Don't give anything out unless you initiate the phone calls.

Could it be the Russians?

The popular opinion, not yet proven, on who is trying to steal voter information is indeed the Russians or someone who is supported or backed by the Russian government. However, a group called Fancy Bear that is largely believed to be controlled by Russian military intelligence has been identified as the group that penetrated the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DNCC) this past summer and that got into Illinois’ database. The same group tried getting Arizona’s voter information (which was data of nearly 4 million people). The malware did manage to get onto the local system of an election official in a small Arizona county, who opened a Word document containing it. Fortunately, it never made it to the voter registration database there.