News & Announcements

A practical training video for campaign staff and volunteers from all political parties, "Five Things" was produced by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs' bipartisan Defending Digital Democracy Project to help campaigns understand the importance of cybersecurity and learn what they can do about it.

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.

Dorothy Zinberg, Lecturer in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and a founding member of the Belfer Center, was awarded the prestigious Harvard Signet Medal on Saturday, April 21.

“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.   

The Defending Digital Democracy Project wants your help in solving one of the biggest problems facing democracy and our society—information operations intended to influence domestic opinion, inflame divisions, or undermine trust in institutions. There has been a lot of discussion in the media, academia, and policy circles about the dangers of information operations—like spreading information through fake social media personas to further social divisions and influence public behavior. But we need more than talk to stop this—we need action. That is what this contest is all about.

The Cybersecurity Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is looking for a junior or mid-career practitioner or academic with a strong background or interest in cybersecurity and the Middle East to address these issues. The topic of cybersecurity should be construed broadly and does not require professional-level technical competency. 

Defending Digital Democracy (D3P), the bipartisan project at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, released three new playbooks today in its mission to help campaign and election officials defend themselves against cyberattacks and information operations aimed at undermining trust in the American election system.

To mark their states' candidate-filing deadlines, Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democratic Secretary of State of Kentucky, and Mac Warner, the Republican Secretary of State of West Virginia, are distributing the "Cybersecurity Campaign Playbook" to candidates in their states seeking to be on the ballot in 2018.