Security News > 2024 > April > Russia, Iran pose most aggressive threat to 2024 elections, say infoseccers

It may come as a surprise to absolutely nobody that experts say, in revealing the most prevalent and likely tactics to meddle with elections this year, that state-sponsored cybercriminals pose the biggest threat.

As leaders of major international powers, both of these elections are likely to be targeted by foreign adversaries, and according to security giant Mandiant's latest report on election security trends, defenders should be aware of the four Ds. DDoS attacks, data theft and leaks, disinformation, and deepfakes lead the way as the most likely types of attacks to be trialed during this year's elections, researchers say, all of which have the potential to impact voter outcomes.

So much so that Mandiant says it's just as likely to take place during elections as data leaks and could cause a similar degree of damage.

Given the number of groups working on its behalf, Russian attacks will likely span the gamut of what's possible and will be directed across the various elections in Europe this year, Jamie Collier, Mandiant senior threat intelligence advisor EMEA at Google Cloud, noted.

As Hultquist said, Iran has a history of success in targeting elections and shouldn't be underestimated, while North Korea might be in and around the mix but likely won't pose anywhere near as substantial a threat as the others.

Citizens of countries whose elections have been targeted by adversaries are also more aware of the threat to elections and are more vigilant to disinformation campaigns, having been exposed to them for years now.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/04/25/mandiant_russia_and_iran_pose/