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Election campaigns were traditionally conducted physically. As the world rapidly digitalises, election campaign activities are increasingly being conducted online or in hybrid format. While the transition online has made it more convenient for candidates and political parties to increase their reach to the voters, the Information Technology systems underpinning such activities are susceptible to cyber-attacks.
To ensure that all online campaign activities are protected from cyber threats, candidates and political parties should take appropriate precautionary measures to protect their digital assets. These assets include smartphones, computers, storage devices and online websites and accounts. The use of such technologies may introduce potential cyber threats highlighted in the previous section.
Candidates and political parties need to be responsible for their own cybersecurity and are advised to take precautionary measures to safeguard their digital assets.
Candidates and political parties should appoint a responsible person to take charge of their campaign’s cybersecurity matters. Due consideration should also be placed on engaging a cybersecurity vendor to review and manage the cybersecurity posture of the election campaign systems as well as to respond to any cybersecurity incident.
If candidates, political parties or campaign staff suspect that a cybersecurity incident may have occurred, they should:
- lodge a police report immediately, and keep the Elections Department (ELD) informed.
Candidates and political parties may refer to CSA’s Advisory on Cybersecurity for Elections in Singapore which can be found at ELD website for more information. The advisory provides candidates and political parties with information on potential cyber threats to their activities and the preventive measures they can take to mitigate the risk of cyber incidents disrupting their activities.
