Hackers to back Harris at Vegas fundraiser
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Members of the cybersecurity community will express support for Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign at a fundraiser on the sidelines of two major conferences this week.
Why it matters: This is the first major presidential fundraising event hosted by and for the cybersecurity industry this election cycle.
What's happening: Former White House cyber officials Jake Braun and Kemba Walden are hosting the fundraiser, called Hackers for Harris, on Thursday at a bar in the Las Vegas Convention Center.
- Nearly 100 people had already RSVP'd to attend as of Monday afternoon, Braun told Axios.
- Tickets start at $250 for students and are as high as $10,000 for co-sponsors, according to an event flyer seen by Axios.
Zoom in: Braun, a co-founder of the DEF CON Voting Village, said he was motivated to host this event after Harris supported the election security community in 2018.
- At the time, lobbyists for voting machine vendors were attacking the Village for its plans to test voting machines for security flaws.
- Harris and other then-members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, including Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.), James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), sent a letter to one vendor urging it to support the Village's work and learn from its findings.
Between the lines: Some facets of the hacker community are known for their distrust and wariness of the government.
- "I've been pushing for a while to help the hacker community get more civically engaged," Braun said. "One aspect of civic engagement is engagement in the electoral process and politics and so on. "
Flashback: Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign also hosted a fundraiser at Black Hat in 2016 — with the event happening just days after the Democratic National Committee suffered a cyberattack.
What we're watching: It's unclear which industry players will attend the event and whether there will be another Hackers for Harris fundraiser.
