The DNC Hacking rumors during the 2016 Election are not just rumors…
If you were able to get through the Thanksgiving weekend without talking to your family about the election and the surrounding drama of the incoming president, you were probably in a lucky minority. Going into the weekend, here at the Upward Technology offices, the latest bit of news that interested us was the possibility of a recount happening in key swing states where there could have been actual hacking that resulted in voter fraud. Did this come up at your turkey day dinner at all? If so, here are some of our thoughts on it from a technical perspective:
Possibly the most burning question for most people who are looking into this issue; are the DNC hacks something you should worry about? Short answer: Yes!
According to the NSA and other experts, we really do need to be worried about our election system being manipulated by foreign governments. No this isn’t fake news. Michael S. Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency has gone on record saying the hacked e-mails published to Wikileaks were a “conscious effort by a nation-state” to interfere with the election.
Whether you perceive this to have motivated anyone’s vote, the act of interference was real. Also the partisan fighting we’re seeing in the political arena also seems to be extending to the Google/Microsoft battle.
The DNC hack was done exploiting both an old Windows (Windows 7) and Adobe Flash vulnerabilities.
Google made a point of dissing Microsoft and scoring some PR points by alerting the media about this before they gave time for Microsoft to fix them.
Myerson (Microsoft Spokesman) also took a swing at Alphabet Inc.’s Google for disclosing the Windows vulnerability. “We believe responsible technology industry participation puts the customer first and requires coordinated vulnerability disclosure,” he said. “Google’s decision to disclose these vulnerabilities before patches are broadly available and tested is disappointing, and puts customers at increased risk.”
As you can see. This is big news. And not just for election-related news, but there are obvious risks that are bound to threaten the everyday computer user.
So what should you do?
Be sure and keep your systems patched and updated.
As mentioned in the DNC hack data – the computers in questions were using Windows 7, which is no longer safe, it’s too old. You need to upgrade to Windows 10 asap.
Don’t run for president. And if you do, maybe keep your hands off technology while you’re campaigning. At the very least, stay off of twitter 😉
Sources for this article and further reading:
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