National: The 2020 election will be the country’s biggest cybersecurity test ever | Joseph Marks/The Washington Post
What will be the biggest cybersecurity story of the year? You hardly have to ask. The 2020 election probably is the most anticipated event in U.S. history when it comes to digital security. Russia’s hacking and disinformation campaign to interfere in the last presidential election shook the nation’s confidence in the U.S. democratic process and rocketed cybersecurity into the mainstream of Washington’s political life. Top questions now are not just when but how Russia will try to interfere in the approaching presidential election and whether it will be emboldened by the fact it has yet to face any significant consequences — and, of course, whether other U.S. adversaries will jump into the fray. “Nobody has really punished them for it and the reality is our adversaries are constantly pushing the envelope,” John Hultquist, director of intelligence analysis at the cybersecurity firm FireEye, told me. “They see what they can get away with and then they push the envelope again.” If the election concludes without a security disaster that compromises the results or undermines public confidence in them, that will be a victory for solid planning, education and more than $900 million spent on digital election defense since 2016. If it’s disrupted, however, it will be a drastic blow to faith in democracy and to the idea the United States can set any red lines in cyberspace that our adversaries won’t cross.