With the 2018 midterm elections less than 50 days away, Symantec is joining the chorus with several other cybersecurity companies by offering free election security measures. Yesterday, Symantec announced that candidates, campaigns, and other election groups can use Project Dolphin, the company’s anti-phishing program, at no cost. The cybersecurity firm also launched a dedicated election security website, which explains that Project Dolphin can scan the Internet to identify spoofed websites, alert users if and when spoofed sites are discovered, and offer guidance on how to remove malicious sites that have been discovered. “Attracting unsuspecting users to fake political websites that contain minor, undetectable differences from legitimate websites, is a popular technique that cybercriminals use to gather personal information, such as email addresses and voting preferences,” Symantec said in a statement. “That information can then be weaponized to influence behavior and attitudes, spread false voting information, or be harvested for cybercrime,” it said. Symantec joins Microsoft, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Cylance, McAfee, Valimail, Cloudflare, and others in offering free cybersecurity services ahead of the midterm elections.
