From India and Taiwan to the UK and the U.S., nearly half the world’s population in more than 60 countries will choose their leaders during 2024, the busiest year for voters. In India, described as the biggest election the world has ever seen, there is an electorate of around 1 billion people, while across the EU, 400 million will go to the polls.
What’s different for the current generation of election authorities, political parties and voters, however, is that the digitization of society has completely shifted the level of risk. This year, nation-states and other threat actors will operate on a scale likely never seen before, bringing an alarming level of sophistication that has real potential to influence political discourse, voter opinion, and disrupt the electoral process.
This includes the widespread use of disinformation—already a ubiquitous social media issue—with rumors and outright falsehoods becoming increasingly difficult to counter. In an election year, this kind of messaging will be amplified even further as voters are urged to exercise caution. Elsewhere, hackers are engaged in ongoing efforts to access the accounts and private data of politicians and election authorities, using the information gathered to boost their efforts.
As well as making fundamental improvements to technology infrastructure and networks, authorities should also focus on boosting their resilience. This should also include the wider use of AI and ML technologies to detect misinformation campaigns and help organizations respond to cyber threats in real time.