As the United States enters full swing into its next presidential election, people are feeling worried, unsafe, and afraid.<\/p>\n
And none of that has to do with who wins.<\/p>\n
According to new research from Malwarebytes, people see this election season as a particularly risky time for their online privacy and cybersecurity. Political ads could be hiding online scams, many people feel, and the election, they say, will likely fall victim to some type of \u201ccyber interference.\u201d Amidst this broader turbulence, 32% are \u201cconcerned about who could learn [their] vote\u201d\u2014be they family, spouses, or cybercriminals.<\/p>\n
For this research, Malwarebytes conducted a pulse survey of its newsletter readers between September 5 and 16, 2024, via the Alchemer Survey platform. In total, 1600 people across the globe responded.<\/p>\n
Broadly, Malwarebytes found that:<\/p>\n
The electoral process is (forgive us) a lot like cybersecurity: It scares people, it\u2019s hopelessly baroque, and, through a lack of participation, it can produce unwanted results.<\/p>\n
Here is what Malwarebytes discovered about the intersection of cybersecurity and elections, with additional guidance on how to protect personal information this season.<\/p>\n
Getting more than 70% of people to agree on anything is remarkable. And yet, 74% of survey participants said that they \u201cconsider US election season a risky time for personal information.\u201d Drilling further into the data, 56% said they were \u201cextremely concerned\u201d or \u201cvery concerned\u201d about the security of their personal information during this election season.<\/p>\n
The reasons could be obvious. Unlike any other season in America, election season might bring the highest volume of advertisements sent directly to people\u2019s homes, phones, and email accounts\u2014and the accuracy and speed at which they come can feel invasive. The network of data brokers that political campaigns rely on to target voters with ads is enormous, as one Washington Post reporter found in 2020, with \u201c3,000 data points on every voter.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Escaping this data collection regime has proven difficult for most people. Just 9.6% of survey participants said they \u201chave not received any election related ads\u201d this year.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, 60% had received election-related ads through emails, 58% through physical mailers, 55% through text messages, 40% through social media, and 29% through phone calls.<\/p>\n Those ads may be falling on deaf ears, though. When asked whether they trust the information they receive from US election-related ads, just a combined 5% said they \u201cagree\u201d or \u201cstrongly agree\u201d with the sentiment.<\/p>\n While people hold a sense of distrust for election-related ads, they also revealed another emotion towards them: Fear.<\/p>\n That\u2019s because the majority of survey participants said they were worried that these ads and other political messages could be hiding dangerous scams underneath. Most people (52%) said they were \u201cvery concerned\u201d or \u201cconcerned\u201d about \u201cfalling prey to a scam when interacting with political messages.\u201d <\/p>\n It\u2019s a well-founded concern as, once again during this election season, cybercriminals are trying to lure Americans into online scams with messages about updated voter registrations<\/a>, campaign donations, and more.<\/p>\n Survey participants also showed widespread fear about whether cybercriminals could reveal who they voted for.<\/p>\n Remember that 32% of participants said they were worried that someone \u201ccould learn about [their] vote.\u201d When asked who<\/em>, specifically, they were worried about, 73% said cybercriminals. A revealing 2% held fears around their votes being exposed to a family member or a spouse.<\/p>\n Finally, though Malwarebytes did not directly tie the concept of \u201ccybercrime\u201d to the election itself, survey participants were asked about \u201ccyber interference.\u201d When rating their own confidence level in whether the election process will be free from cyber interference, a combined 74% said they were \u201cnot very confident\u201d or \u201cnot confident at all.\u201d<\/p>\n This statistic should not be interpreted to mean that 74% of people believe the election will be \u201chacked\u201d or that votes will be switched by an adversarial government\u2014a scenario that has never provably occurred in the US. Instead, it may point to how people interpret \u201ccyber interference. It could include, for example, the pilfering of personal data for political advertisements<\/a>, or the wanton online distribution of political disinformation to sway voters<\/a>.<\/p>\n With distrust rampant and anxiety wide, people are refusing to enter this election season without some precautions.<\/p>\n Two thirds of survey participants (66%) have either taken steps or plan to take steps to secure their personal data during this election season. Malwarebytes asked about several cybersecurity and online privacy measures that, particularly when facing off against online scams, could protect people from having their accounts taken over, their identities stolen, or even their personal information exposed for marketing reasons.<\/p>\n Survey participants took on the following measures:<\/p>\n On the reverse, Malwarebytes found a small but critical number of people who will refuse to vote during this election \u201cdue to privacy or security concerns\u201d\u2014a combined 3% \u201cagreed\u201d or \u201cstrongly agreed\u201d with this sentiment.<\/p>\n There\u2019s good reason this election season for Americans to be concerned about their online privacy and security\u2014but that doesn\u2019t mean that Americans have to spend the next month riddled with anxiety. This month, people can take the following advice to secure their personal information, lock down their sensitive accounts, and, overall, stay safe from malicious scammers and cybercriminals.<\/p>\nA focus on cybercrime<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Taking action<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Staying safe<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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