New CSC Research Finds Over 90% of Websites Linked to Donald Trump and Joe Biden Campaigns at Risk for Potential Redirection, Disinformation, and Data Theft
Summary
On the heels of its recent Forbes Global 2000 research, CSC is seeing major risks related to the manipulation of web properties that voters rely on for information and donations. “As noted in our previous research, we’ve consistently seen domains emerge as a threat vector for enterprises, and an area that is continuously overlooked in cyber security. Due to the sensitivity and importance of the U.S. election process, domain security remains a major vulnerability for the potential of foreign interference, fraud, and misinformation,” says Mark Calandra, executive vice president for CSC DBS. Those responsible for managing domain registrations, including registrars and hosting companies, need to have an actionable plan that is aligned with best practices. Additionally, more than a third of those presidential candidate typo domains are linked to third parties; of that one third, nearly 70%: • Are configured to send and receive emails, which can be used to lure donors to phishing sites • Were registered in 2020 leading up to the November election • Disguise the owner’s identity behind proxy or privacy services With cyber criminals subverting activities on these websites to disseminate misinformation or commit fraud against web visitors, there is also the threat of ransomware.
