Ex-NSA hacker wants to give 2020 candidates free cybersecurity tool. The FEC may stop him

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/ex-nsa-hacker-wants-give-2020-candidates-free-cyber-security-n1013441

By Ken Dilanian
NBC News
June 3, 2019

A small software company wants to give political campaigns a free tool designed 
to block hackers from gaining access to their files, but the Federal Election 
Commission may prevent that from happening.

In a draft notice posted Monday, FEC lawyers recommend that the commission vote 
against a request by Silicon Valley startup Area 1 Security to allow it to 
offer cybersecurity software for free to political campaigns.

Unless the FEC grants an exemption, a company that provides a free product to a 
political campaign can run afoul of a law prohibiting corporate campaign 
contributions.

Oren Falkowitz, a former NSA hacker who founded Area 1, touts his software as a 
leading solution to block so-called spearphishing attacks, which often take the 
form of fake emails asking the user to click on a link that then allows hackers 
access to the organization.

Russian military hackers used a spearphishing attack to gain illegal access to 
the email accounts of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's 
campaign chairman in 2016, according to the special counsel's report.

"This is exactly the thing we are supposed to be trying to solve against," 
Falkowitz told NBC News. "The reality is that campaigns can't afford to spend 
their valuable contribution money on expensive cyber security products."

[...]



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