Digital Security & U.S. Political Campaigns: Expert Roundtable

Abstract

More than 40 leaders and experts from across the political spectrum, the technology industry, and academia came together this summer in a Google-organized virtual roundtable on improving digital security practices on political campaigns. Our goal was to come up with a consensus piece of digital security advice to deploy during this cycle, 2020, to everyone who is working on, with, or in support of a political campaign. We hope that the promotion of a single, consistent piece of advice by relevant companies and organizations will improve understanding and adoption. We selected advice that would provide real protection against the heightened digital security threats that this population faces, while being a reasonable ask of a population that works in a fast-paced, hectic, temporary environment where security is not the top priority. Together, the majority of roundtable attendees agreed to a top piece of advice for people involved with campaigns: For your most important accounts—your personal and campaign accounts for email, social media, and banking—only use the strongest form of Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) that’s available, ideally hardware security keys.