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00:00What is different about 2020 than 2016 how much progress on this front have we made. Hi Emily it's great to be with you. So we've made a lot of progress from the US government perspective and from industry perspective. Certainly 2016 was a wake up call at the end of the Obama administration. Elections were identified as critical infrastructure which meant that the federal government could intervene and provide support and provide resources. And over the last four years you've seen the establishment of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency specifically responsible for securing our election infrastructure. And you've seen U.S. Cyber Command really up its efforts as well and our intelligence efforts. And we've also seen industry really do their part. And most recently a couple weeks ago we saw the efforts on both U.S. Cyber Command and Microsoft in separate but distinct efforts to disrupt a botnet known as Trick Bot which is one of the nation the world's most prolific distributors of ransomware. So from these streets cyber attacking perspective we've done a lot better. We've upped our game. Certainly we can expect that our adversaries have up their game as well. But we're in a better place because of our knowledge our awareness and our preparedness than we were four years ago . Exactly. So what are the biggest threats right now on the 2020 election. They are out there. Even if we've gotten better at fending them off. Absolutely. And I think that comes in two categories. We talk about interference and influence and on the interference side. Again we're concerned. We're consistently seeing our nation state adversaries work against us. But the infrastructure security that we have is in a better place. But what I'm most worried about is influence. And you you mentioned it a little bit with your your previous guest. But social influence by media social media influence against our elections is really one of the biggest concerns. The primary vehicle of influence of our elections is social media. And the intent of that influence is to sow discord is to undermine public faith in our democratic institutions. And those efforts have improved on the part of our adversaries. And we absolutely have to be doing a better job. I'll tell you it was infuriating to hear two days ago YouTube Facebook Twitter talk about the fact that they're going to reconfigure their algorithms post-election to limit disinformation. What that means is that they've had the capabilities all along but they haven't had the will or the intent. And until they're sort of backed into a corner with legal and regulatory threats are they going to act. And what this means is that we desperately need the United States government desperately needs to be working with social media as part of our election infrastructure to do better . Does that mean it's too late and that the damage has already been done or will have already been done on the results. I mean half of people potentially have already voted . So there's a difference right now between what's going to happen post election and pre-election and truthfully the best thing we can do is for everybody to get out and vote because the more people who vote the more we actually make it difficult for our adversaries to be successful. Right now again the election infrastructure the ability to vote is strong and secure. What we have to make sure of is that we don't share information that we can't validate that nobody feels suppressed from voting. So we still have the opportunity to manage and to confront that disinformation. And certainly it's a good thing that these social media platforms are doing this after the election. But before the election the most important piece is for everybody to feel the freedom and the ability to vote. And again the election infrastructure itself is not vulnerable in a way that we should be worried about. It certainly is prepared for the attacks that are coming at it. But we can be certain that the votes themselves will be counted. We just need to make sure that everybody gets out and votes and isn't persuaded by any disinformation to not vote . So you think that we can believe the results when we see them . So this is the biggest issue right the integrity of the election . The concern I do have is the perceived compromise of the election. And that's where disinformation comes into play . Again we have confidence that the election data is going to be secure. But if we have a few districts that have a mishap and even if our government steps in and addresses that mishap even just a few counties or districts that again have that perceived challenge a perceived compromise of integrity will absolutely call into question the integrity of the election. And so this is where we as a nation have to listen to the infrastructure elements the government and what they're doing as well as the state and local governments to be sure that what is being done is appropriate. Remember the goal of our nation state adversaries is to sow discord is to undermine our public faith . And we have to have confidence in the election infrastructure to know that it is going to be handled appropriately and that we don't fall victim to the social influence . So what do we need to be most wary of as American citizens in the six days leading up to the election and the six days following the election . So we saw last week I ran pose as the proud boys and sending out a bunch of e-mails threatening Democratic voters. I would say to any voter that received something that in any ways presses their their safety suppresses their ability to vote to reach out to your local and state authorities to validate it. So up until the election it's about anything that prevents people from voting. So we have to make sure that everybody gets out to vote . And I would say it's not the five days after the election . It's the 78 days after the election. It's the time between election. Election day is over and inauguration that we really have to be paying attention. In 2016 we saw Russia up its efforts on social media disinformation after the election. So we have to be very careful in recognizing what is and is not real. And this is where again social media has truly become part of our critical infrastructure. They absolutely have to start acting like it. Government has to be working with them to tell them how to act in the national security concerns of this nation .

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U.S. Cybersecurity Has 'Upped Its Game' Since 2016, Says Expert

Kiersten Todt, managing director of the Cyber Readiness Institute and former cybersecurity adviser to former President Barack Obama, discusses the risks of foreign interference in the upcoming U.S. presidential election on "Bloomberg Technology." (Source: Bloomberg)