As the final high-tension hours of voting ticked away on Tuesday, nervous reporters waiting for news of foreign information warfare efforts were left like Vladimir and Estragon by the roadside, waiting for a phantom that never appeared. Instead came news of U.S. cyber operations meant to retaliate for earlier Iranian meddling and to deter more of the same.
“Overall, NSA/CYBERCOM have shown a sophisticated understanding of the foreign actor and foreign influence threat that makes significant strides from where our defenses against these operations were back in 2016. In particular, anticipating adversary activity and heading it off at the pass; increasing coordination with social media platforms, researchers, and foreign partners; raising the costs for adversaries to interfere in our democracy; and prioritizing clear communication with the public about these threats all make our elections and our democracy more secure,” Lindsay Gorman, an emerging-tech fellow at the bipartisan Alliance for Securing Democracy, told Defense One in an email.