Election Security with Camille Stewart: Looking ahead to 2020...are we ready?

While visions of sugar plums might be dancing in children’s heads as we close out 2019, the 2020 elections are occupying the head space of many adults in the U.S. In 2016, the importance of election security was made crystal clear. What’s happened since then? Are we ready for 2020? How do experts believe our defenses will hold up when tested by foreign and even domestic attacks?



We spent an hour exploring election security (and more) with Camille Stewart, a cyber security attorney with experience working inside tech companies as well as considerable time spent on Capitol Hill in both the Department of Homeland Security and as a consultant. Camille breaks down the major aspects of election security and we discuss why it’s seemingly so fractured across municipalities-- and why that may not be such a bad thing after all.  Jack, Dave and Camille debate how election defenses might be improved, from the role of open source and private services to “defending forward” by taking out troll farms. While Camille declined to grade our readiness for the attacks in 2020 (which have already begun), Camille does make predictions about what will happen during the ‘20 elections, including the likelihood of domestic influence campaigns.

Our ~75 minute conversation with Camille showcases the breadth of her experience in both the Silicon Valley and Washington D.C. She explains lessons learned from her time protecting brands at Cyveillance, breaking down the optimal way to get a social media company’s attention when you’d like to have something changed or removed. Camille also explains how State security might be modeled after progressive smaller countries who excel in cyber, leaning on her time working in foreign relations during the Obama Administration.  We wrap up with her recent investigation and resulting paper on how foreign nations, especially China, have been leveraging U.S. bankruptcy proceedings to acquire large amounts of American intellectual property on the cheap.