Defending Digital Democracy

Ingenuity was on full display in March as students from Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, Georgetown, Georgia Tech, and other leading universities pitched ideas to prevent or reduce malicious cyber attacks. Their proposals were part of Defending Digital Democracy’s first Information Operations Technical and Policy Hackathon and the culmination of a D3P conference dedicated to fortifying election security.

Experts have warned a major attack in Britain is a matter of ‘when, not if.’

The Defending Digital Democracy project (D3P) at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center joined the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) for the public launch of the “The Cybersecurity Campaign Playbook: European Edition” in Brussels on May 22, 2018.

This European Edition of the D3P Cybersecurity Campaign Playbook was written by a multi-partisan and international team of experts in cybersecurity, politics, and law to provide simple, actionable ways of countering the growing cyber threat.
 

This Template is primarily intended for use by political parties or campaigns as a foundation from which they can develop their own tailored communications response plans, which include best practices, recommended external response processes, and scenarios to anticipate an election cyber incident.

It is a war game with a twist. Instead of army officers, election officials are in charge. Instead of battling against an enemy armed with missiles, defences are choreographed against hackers hidden behind foreign computers. With the US midterm elections fast approaching, more than 160 election officials from across the country have just months to learn how to defend democracy.

“Honey bots” that counter malicious bots. An app called Sanity Check. Cyber Security Bonds. And technology that breaks the grip of online echo chambers. Those are just some of the ideas that college students from around the country presented Thursday in Cambridge as part of the Defending Digital Democracy Project’s first-ever Information Operations Technical and Policy Hack-a-thon.

More than 120 election officials from 38 states gathered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, this week to participate in role-playing exercises that provided them with tips, tools, and training to fortify their election systems against cyber attacks and information operations. Organized by the Defending Digital Democracy Project (D3P) at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, the two-day event featured a tabletop exercise (TTX) scenario for officials that simulated attacks on election systems ranging from hacks and social media misinformation to  manipulation of voter information and trust. The state and local election officials learned how to better prepare, defend, and respond to a range of attacks on the integrity of American elections and how to empower their colleagues back home with this knowledge as they prepare for the 2018 and 2020 elections.   

Eric Rosenbach, Co-Director of Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and former Chief of Staff to the Secretary of Defense and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security, testified to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on March 21, 2018, on Russian Interference in the 2016 U.S. Elections.

Undaunted, a group of young civil servants is working directly with political operatives and state and local officials to fortify campaigns and elections against cyberattacks and information operations: Harvard Kennedy School students affiliated with the Belfer Center’s Defending Digital Democracy Project (D3P).