How attackers can interfere in Ghana’s elections – advice from a security expert

Desmond Israel, a data privacy and information security specialist, believes that while voting in the December general elections will take place offline, the country is not immune to electoral interference.

He believes that cyber attackers may influence elections by spreading disinformation and manipulating voters.

He observes that, while Ghana's elections are entirely manual (voting, counting, and collation), cyber attackers can still target political campaign activities and exploit holes in political party infrastructure, particularly by focusing on significant people such as presidential candidates.

Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show on Thursday, Mr Israel explained how attackers may get access to candidates' digital communications, including emails and social media accounts, in order to obtain compromising material.

He related these tactics to those used in the 2016 US presidential election, when troll factories were deployed to distort public opinions.

According to him, by using bots and creating phony accounts, attackers can increase a candidate's apparent popularity on social media, providing the impression of widespread support.

“An attacker can set up a troll factory like they did with the USA ahead of their 2016 election and make presidential candidates believe that you have a strong grassroots base. So the attacker would set up bots and make them represent as though you have a stronger grassroots base so this will add up to your numbers on social media and be making a lot of noise about you. So you will think you have grown in numbers when in actual fact it is dwindling, then they bring in the ‘kill’,” he explained.

Mr Israel cautioned that this inflated sense of fame may be harmful, particularly when combined with fake news, misinformation, and disinformation.

“Once they bring in the kill, they have achieved two things from cyber, they give you that false hope that you have a high number on social media when it is the complete opposite, and then they drop the bombshell from whatever they found on you from whatever electronic medium that they hacked.

“And once this gets in the picture, it destroys everything because now there is public outrage against you,” he stated.

This combination, he stressed, is one of the modus operandi that attackers can use to severely damage a candidate’s reputation just before an election, leading to unexpected losses.

“You may be the best candidate everybody would be rooting for, but a week to the election, you lost so much, and on the final day, it affects the outcome. And this can constitute election interference,” he stated.

Source : Lead News Online