Meet the Hackers for Hire Who Disrupt Democratic Elections

Description

As elections around the globe face heightened scrutiny, an unsettling reality is coming to light: the rise of Election Hacking as a Service (HaaS). Far from the stereotype of isolated hackers working in basements, today's election manipulation is an organised business, with services bought and sold on the dark web. In 2016, Russian operatives spent a mere $100,000 on Facebook ads to influence over 126 million Americans ahead of the US election. In 2020, Iranian hackers posed as the far-right group Proud Boys, sending threatening emails to voters in swing states. Meanwhile, disinformation-for-hire services, available on the dark web offer clients the ability to manipulate elections on a global scale. These aren't just isolated incidents. Election hacking has now become a global industry, and the costs are shockingly low. With critical elections in the U.S. and Ireland approaching, the question isn’t if interference will happen, but how devastating it will be this time.