What a Harris administration could mean for cybersecurity
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If Vice President Kamala Harris wins the presidential race, she's likely to put her own prosecutorial spin on the Biden administration's already tough cybersecurity policy agenda, experts say.
Why it matters: With two months until Election Day, cybersecurity experts are eagerly reading the tea leaves to determine how a Harris-Walz administration would approach cybersecurity issues like nation-state attacks and critical infrastructure protections.
The big picture: Unlike other issues, cybersecurity is mostly nonpartisan.
- Meaning Harris' approach might not differ from Biden's — or even Trump’s — in many ways.
Between the lines: However, Harris' track record on tech and cybersecurity issues in the Senate and as California's attorney general paints a picture of where she might stand out, former government officials told Axios.
- In 2012, Harris created the California Justice Department's privacy enforcement and protection unit, which focuses on protecting consumer and individual privacy rights.
- That year, she also cracked down on mobile app developers who were pulling users' sensitive data without consent.
- And cybersecurity has been one of Harris' top foreign policy priorities as vice president.
- "She might be stronger on some of these issues" than the Biden administration, a former Obama official told Axios. That includes efforts to hold tech companies liable for security flaws in their products.
Flashback: A group of hackers and other cybersecurity professionals already showed their support for Harris' campaign at a fundraiser on the sidelines of the DEF CON hacker conference.
Driving the news: Russian President Vladimir Putin said yesterday he'd like to see Harris become the next U.S. president.
- The campaign responded by saying it rejected "any foreign interference in this election at all, from any side, from any country."
- Putin's comments came a day after the U.S. Department of Justice seized 32 domains tied to Russian influence campaigns targeting the 2024 presidential election.
Zoom in: Harris' track record suggests she'll also prioritize cracking down on scammers, cybercriminals and even nation-state hackers, Nicole Tisdale, a former Biden White House and congressional staffer, told Axios.
- Harris has prosecuted people behind cyber exploitation rings, partnered with the AARP to educate seniors about scams, and teamed up with tech companies to better fight online sex crimes.
The intrigue: Even Harris' focus on affordable internet for marginalized communities could have outsized impacts for cyber policy, Tisdale added.
- "When people don't have reliable access to internet, they learn insecure practices," she said. "They don't use password managers, they are not using trusted websites, they are not doing automatic updates."
Yes, but: Both the Harris and Trump campaigns are historically behind schedule for transition planning, according to the Partnership for Public Service.
- "People are thinking it will be pretty much the same until a new team gets in place," James Lewis, director of the strategic technologies program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Axios.
- The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
What we're watching: Biden's top cyber officials aren't guaranteed jobs in a new Harris administration.
- Experts anticipate some carryover in the White House and even at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — but others say Harris may want to start anew with her own cast of characters in top roles.
- The Harris transition team has already started thinking about how to broach the "three-headed problem" of the White House's National Security Council, the Office of the National Cyber Director and CISA, Lewis added.
