The historic political events of the past week have brought the importance of Internet security back to a front and center story. As Newsweek and Government Technology Magazine reported, both the Obama and McCain campaigns were hacked by a foreign party. Here's an excerpt from the Newsweek article Hackers and Spending Sprees:
At the Obama headquarters in midsummer, technology experts detected what they initially thought was a computer virus--a case of "phishing," a form of hacking often employed to steal passwords or credit-card numbers. But by the next day, both the FBI and the Secret Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: "You have a problem way bigger than what you understand," an agent told Obama's team. "You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system." The following day, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe heard from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, to the same effect: "You have a real problem ... and you have to deal with it." The Feds told Obama's aides in late August that the McCain campaign's computer system had been similarly compromised.
According to Newsweek, the Feds assured the Obama campaign that the cyber attack did not come from his political opponents. Meanwhile, a top McCain official confirmed that their computers had also been hacked.
But to end the story there would be an injustice to the importance of recent events. The London Times offered a fascinating analysis of President-elect Obama's use of the Internet during the campaign.
Under the Tech section with the title, Is the YouTube-isation of politics a good thing? (note the English use an "s" rather than our "z"), the article describes the importance of the Internet as reported from a Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. On the panel, Arianna Huffington, who founded the Huffington Post, reportedly said, "Were it not for the Internet, Obama would not be president."
The panelists went to to describe how YouTube and the wider Internet has changed everything in political expectations. The panelists also brought up the digital divide and those in society who don't have Internet access and don't participate online.
A related post-election question is: How will the Internet be used differently in a President Obama adminstration?
Again the London Times offered some early insights with their article Barack Obama: master of the web shares his night of triumph with the world. The article describes the behind-the-scenes look at his election night triumph. The article also describes how quickly his new transition website was launched at change.gov which encourages supporters to: "Share your story and your ideas, and be part of bringing positive, lasting change to this country."
The website continues a tactic Mr Obama employed to such brilliant effect during his campaign: making people feel they have a stake in his strategy while simultaneously galvanising an army of supporters and new donors, who were kept in almost daily contact with the campaign through e-mails and text messages.
Will President Obama be remembered as the first "Internet President"? Time will tell. He certainly appears to be the first President who will use Web 2.0 technologies to reach out directly to millions of Americans and bypass the media with his instant messages.
No matter which side you are on, politics will never be the same. Cyberspace will now play a central role for elections at all levels of government. Elected officials will follow the President-elect's model.
My view: cyber security is no longer a side show. We are now on center stage - even in politics.
What's your view?
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