(VitalNews.org) – Britain is expected to get a lot of state-backed cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns as the upcoming election surfaces.
Britain’s upcoming election is at the beginning of next month and many are anticipating a huge problem when it comes to disinformation, AI issues, and potential cyberattacks.
“With most U.K. citizens voting at polling stations on the day of the election, I expect the majority of cybersecurity risks to emerge in the months leading up to the day itself,” Todd McKinnon, CEO of identity security firm Okta said.
In the 2016 election, both the United States and Britain’s election faced multiple cybersecurity issues during that time. Disinformation was shared on social media and deep fakes were already surfacing.
State actors have since done routine attacks in multiple countries to manipulate the outcome of these elections. The United Kingdom said that the Chinese hacking group APT 31 attempted to access some U.K. lawmakers’ email accounts. China denied any of these allegations and said that they were “groundless.”
Cybersecurity experts are expecting hackers to conduct malicious hacking events and spread disinformation during the election times. Artificial intelligence has made these cyber hacks even more prominent and easier for people to perform as the technology has advanced.
Experts are expecting these cyberattacks, deep fakes, and disinformation to become even more common as it becomes easier.
Says McKinnon, “Nation-state actors and cybercriminals are likely to utilize AI-powered identity-based attacks like phishing, social engineering, ransomware, and supply chain compromises to target politicians, campaign staff, and election-related institutions.”
Experts have also said that China, Russia, and Iran are likely candidates for spreading misinformation in future elections.
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