New Research: Voters Concerned about AI and the Cybersecurity of Campaigns
This morning DDC and Yubico (a DDC cybersecurity technology partner providing free security keys), released the results of a survey exploring voter attitudes and concerns about cybersecurity and AI in the upcoming elections.
The results indicate that the public is aware and concerned about the potential impact of generative AI in the upcoming campaign, and has high expectations for campaigns to implement good cybersecurity practices..
The survey was conducted with 2000 registered voters in the United States by the polling firm OnePoll.
THE DATA
On the AI front:
78% of respondents are concerned about AI-generated content being used to impersonate a political candidate or create inauthentic content.
43% believe AI will have a negative effect on the outcome of this year's elections.
After listening to an audio clip, 41% believed an AI generated clip was authentic.
In terms of voter attitudes around campaign cybersecurity, the respondents are very clear on how they view campaigns and their expectations. These findings should provide some incentives for campaigns to up their cybersecurity game.
85% of respondents don’t have high levels of confidence that political campaigns effectively protect personal information.
Registered voters would like to see campaigns and candidates:
Take precautions to prevent their websites from being hacked (42%);
Use strong security measures like multi-factor authentication (MFA) on their accounts (41%); and
Have policies in place and train staffers and key volunteers on cybersecurity for the campaign and protecting personal information (38%).
Furthermore, 42% of those who have donated to a campaign said their likelihood of donating again would change if the campaign was hacked, and 26% indicated they have abandoned making a donation because of concerns about the security of the transaction and how their personal information would be handled.
WHAT CAMPAIGNS SHOULD DO?
The good news is that DDC eligible campaigns have access to tools to help them meet the cybersecurity expectations of their supporters. DDC offers free:
Security keys from Yubico and Google to implement the strongest multi-factor authentication on accounts
Website protection tools from Cloudflare with Cloudflare for Campaigns to prevent websites from being hacked
Protection from impersonation of campaign domains and email from Valimail
Password management from LastPass
Mobile device protection from iVerify
When it comes to AI, campaigns should be sure they use this emerging technology responsibly, and help their supporters be cognizant of the potential for AI generated false information. There are emerging efforts like those of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity that are working on the memorialization of the provenance of authentic materials. Keep an eye out for more to come on that in the near future.
Your supporters are the last line of defense in mitigating the impact of AI generated deep fakes and misinformation. While we hope that industry and the news media will flag many fakes, for example, the way many email services block the vast majority of phishing emails, some will get through.
Encourage your supporters to have a degree of suspicion around content. When in doubt they should fact check it out. Fake content is made to engender a response. Tell people to be attuned to their emotional responses to content they see. Does it make you angry or upset? Is it looking to sway you in favor or opposed to a person or policy? Is it trying to make you feel helpless or hopeless and maybe diminish your desire to vote?
Everyone has a part making our campaigns and election cycle safer and more secure. DDC is thankful to Yubico for sponsoring this study and advancing the conversation.