[Infowarrior] - Where the candidates stand on cyber issues

[Richard Forno]

Where the candidates stand on cyber issues
By Violet Blue

It's a little difficult to nail down the US presidential candidates on cybersecurity. That's probably because none of the candidates actually has a cybersecurity plan.

What little the presidential candidates have said about cybersecurity is as bizarre as the entire reality-TV election process spectacle itself. They each think cybersecurity means one, or possibly two things. Bernie Sanders is obsessed with the NSA. Donald Trump said that Edward Snowden should be executed and wants to hack-attack China. Hillary Clinton just seems unsure about what exactly she should say.

With so much ado over her email server, its security, and the concerns over her email handling of classified information, it would certainly be in her benefit to do the opposite -- get deeply engaged, and steer conversations on all things cybersecurity. And her opponents could benefit even more from beating Clinton to it.

But as you're about to see, they're all guilty of this one offense: Clinton, Sanders, and Trump all believe the word "cybersecurity" only means narrow federal threats. Worryingly, each one has their own idea of what that threat translates to, or means. None of those things reflect the truly urgent cybersecurity issues we're facing.

The US is being gutted by all-time-high incidences of breaches, identity theft, and ransomware in hospitals, homes and businesses. Between the OPM and the IRS, the government can't seem to secure itself. Data dealers and too-powerful social networks are playing fast and loose with private information and rhetoric, before our privacy laws catch up with them. State-sponsored hacking has emerged as a potential act of war on the global stage -- a WW III size issue, which should overshadow the apparently simple joys of blaming China for everything.

With all this, you'd think that cyber would be a very popular subject with any wanna-be leader-of-the-free-world types.

How will our new leader react when cybersecurity issues take them by surprise during the next four years? We've put together a cheat sheet (in alphabetical order, below).

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http://www.engadget.com/2016/05/13/where-the-candidates-stand-on-cyber-issues/

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