海角大神

Hillary on China hack: What is cybersecurity's role in 2016 elections?

At a campaign event Saturday, Hillary Clinton used strong language in taking a stand on cybersecurity and foreign policy. Other candidates are also incorporating the issue into their campaigns. 

When discussing China鈥檚 alleged hacking of US computers, Hillary Clinton minced no words.

At a campaign event in New Hampshire Saturday, the Democratic presidential hopeful said 鈥� in language far stronger than that typically used by President Barack Obama鈥檚 administration 鈥� that China was stealing US commercial secrets and government information, Reuters .

Ms. Clinton鈥檚 statement marks the growing political significance of cybersecurity, an issue that some experts say could play an important, though not yet central, role in campaign discourse leading up to the 2016 elections.

China is 鈥渢rying to hack into everything that doesn鈥檛 move in America,鈥� Clinton , according to CNN. 鈥淪tealing commercial secrets, blueprints from defense contractors, stealing huge amounts of government information. All looking for an advantage.鈥�

In June, an infiltration of the US Office of Personnel Management鈥檚 (OPM) computer networks compromised 4.2 million former and current federal workers鈥� personal information. The breach, which could cost the US government $19 billion in efforts to inform victims of the hack and supply them with credit monitoring services, is suspected to have come from China, 海角大神's Malena Carollo wrote.聽

Beijing, via the Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, has denied involvement in the attack and called US accusations 鈥渘ot responsible and counterproductive,鈥� Agence France-Presse .

Still, Clinton 鈥� who herself of failing to secure her personal emails from potential security breaches 鈥� is not alone in attempting to take a stand on cybersecurity and online privacy.

A number of presidential candidates have incorporated the issue into their campaigns, likely in a bid to shore up their images as leaders who understand and can face 21st-century threats, Eric Chabrow on his blog for GovInfoSecurity, a risk management and information security news site.

Republican candidate Rand Paul, for instance, made his presence felt in the privacy debate in late May, when he stood against fellow Kentucky senator and majority leader Mitch McConnell in opposing the extension of a section of the Patriot Act that justified the National Security Agency鈥檚 controversial bulk data collection program.

Former Florida governor and Republican hopeful Jeb Bush tried to make 鈥渢ransparency鈥� a byword for his campaign by from his time in office in the Sunshine State. However, privacy advocates criticized the effort after it became known that Mr. Bush鈥檚 office had failed to first redact identifying information 鈥� including names, addresses, and social security numbers 鈥� from the emails sent to him.

Prior to launching his bid for the Republican nomination, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed off on a new cybersecurity communications and integration cell, tasked to conduct cyber threat analysis and determine best cybersecurity practices for his home state, NJ.com .

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and Republican candidate Carly Fiorina, like Clinton, addressed the issue from the perspective of the OPM hacks, that defending against cyberattacks should be a 鈥渃entral part of any homeland security strategy.鈥�

鈥淵ou have to have a consolidated command that has the accountability, the responsibility, for protecting the security of all government systems and databases,鈥� Ms. Fiorina told the news outlet. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 have this piece-mealed throughout government.鈥�

And Democratic hopeful Martin O鈥橫alley, a former Maryland governor, has supported a congressional bill that he said could protect US networks against just such cyberattacks as the OPM breach.

鈥淭his security breach might be the most significant yet to take place in our country, but it won鈥檛 be the last,鈥� Mr. O鈥橫alley wrote in an for Foreign Policy. 鈥淚t signals the urgent need to advance a new agenda to improve our nation鈥檚 cybersecurity.鈥�

The growing chorus of voices in and around the issue show that cybersecurity is on its way to becoming a critical part of political discourse. But, GovInfoSecurity鈥檚 Mr. Chabrow wrote, don't expect it to become a central issue yet: For the 2016 elections, at least, economic concerns will continue to dominate presidential debates.聽

As innovation blogger Dominic Basulto for the Washington Post: 鈥淐ybersecurity is like global terrorism before 2001 鈥� it鈥檚 something that percolates in the background until something tragic happens that moves the issue front and center.鈥�