--- title: "Spear Phishing: The Greatest Threat to Democracy | Phish Protection" description: "What" image: "https://phishprotection.com/og/blog/spear-phishing-the-greatest-threat-to-democracy.png" canonical: "https://phishprotection.com/blog/spear-phishing-the-greatest-threat-to-democracy/" --- Quick Answer What's the greatest threat to democracy today? \_How about election results that can't be trusted because the election was manipulated by hackers\_. Hackers who began their attack with a \*\*spear phishing campaign\*\*. It's happened before. It will almost certainly happen again. Share [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fphishprotection.com%2Fblog%2Fspear-phishing-the-greatest-threat-to-democracy%2F "Share on LinkedIn") [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Spear%20Phishing%3A%20The%20Greatest%20Threat%20to%20Democracy&url=https%3A%2F%2Fphishprotection.com%2Fblog%2Fspear-phishing-the-greatest-threat-to-democracy%2F "Share on X/Twitter") [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fphishprotection.com%2Fblog%2Fspear-phishing-the-greatest-threat-to-democracy%2F "Share on Facebook") [ ](https://reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fphishprotection.com%2Fblog%2Fspear-phishing-the-greatest-threat-to-democracy%2F&title=Spear%20Phishing%3A%20The%20Greatest%20Threat%20to%20Democracy "Share on Reddit") [ ](mailto:?subject=Spear%20Phishing%3A%20The%20Greatest%20Threat%20to%20Democracy&body=Check out this article: https%3A%2F%2Fphishprotection.com%2Fblog%2Fspear-phishing-the-greatest-threat-to-democracy%2F "Share via Email") ![Phish Protection blog post image](https://media.mailhop.org/phishprotection/images/2019/07/Spear-Phishing-Latest-Statistics.jpg) What’s the greatest threat to democracy today? _How about election results that can’t be trusted because the election was manipulated by hackers_. Hackers who began their attack with a **spear phishing campaign**. It’s happened before. It will almost certainly happen again. Manipulating campaigns is now part of the election process. And the number of ways it can be manipulated is scary to think about. It could be as simple as hijacking a social media account to post fake election results. Or, it could be a sinister as hijacking a county website and posting fake voting instructions about where, when and how to vote. And no matter what form it takes, it will almost certainly start with a **spear phishing attack**. The problem has attracted a lot of attention. According to[Krebs on Security](https://krebsonsecurity.com/2019/07/the-unsexy-threat-to-election-security/), “a grand jury from San Mateo County in northern California released a report which envisions _the havoc that might be wrought on the election process if malicious hackers were able to hijack social media and/or email accounts and disseminate false voting instructions or phony election results_. The report notes that concerns about the security is hardly theoretical: _In 2010, intruders hijacked election results web page_.” We already know that spear phishing impacted the last presidential election. As I wrote about in the blog post,[Mueller Report Unravels Politically Motivated Spear Phishing Cyber Attack](/blog/mueller-report-unravels-politically-motivated-spear-phishing-cyber-attack/), “The Muller Report also claims that the hack compromised the entire email account of the campaign chairholder Podesta. The investigation does establish a particular benefit to the Trump presidency.” ![Spear Phishing Latest Statistics](https://media.mailhop.org/phishprotection/images/2019/07/Spear-Phishing-Latest-Statistics.jpg) [Stop spear phishing](/products/advanced-threat-defense/) and you **stop election manipulation**. But it’s hard to do, because the hackers are clever and they keep evolving. You can try awareness training, but that’s[never 100% successful](/blog/latest-phishing-vulnerability-confirms-awareness-training-is-insufficient/). To maintain the sanctity of our elections, it should be required that everyone associated with the election process have **advanced email security** specifically designed to [prevent spear phishing](/) attacks. That means, at a minimum, the email security include: Real-time link click protection Domain name spoofing protection Display name spoofing protection Smart quarantine Malicious attachment blocking Advanced email authentication including SPF, DKIM and DMARC ![Email phishing protection](https://media.mailhop.org/phishprotection/images/2019/07/email-phishing-protection-9475.jpg) I know when I go to vote I want my vote to count. If we can maintain the **sanctity of our democracy** by protecting the voting process with readily-available and easily affordable technology like[Phish Protection](/), then we have to do it. ## Topics [ Phishing ](/tags/phishing/) ![Brad Slavin](https://media.mailhop.org/phishprotection/images/authors/brad-slavin.jpg) [ Brad Slavin ](/authors/brad-slavin/) General Manager Founder and General Manager of DuoCircle. Product strategy and commercial lead across DuoCircle's 2,000+ customer base. [LinkedIn Profile →](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradslavin) ## Protect your inbox from phishing attacks Real-time email security with 60-day free trial. No credit card required. [Start Free Trial](https://portal.duocircle.com/cart.php?a=add&pid=101&brand=phishprotection) [View Pricing](/pricing/) ## Related Articles [ Foundational 5m 0ktapus, Okta Breach Helps Attackers Launch Sophisticated Supply Chain Attacks Sep 5, 2022 ](/blog/0ktapus-okta-breach-helps-attackers-launch-sophisticated-supply-chain-attacks/)[ Foundational 4m 13 Spear Phishing Attacks Examples To Justify Investment For Phishing Prevention Solutions In Your Organization Aug 1, 2019 ](/blog/13-spear-phishing-attacks-examples-to-justify-investment-for-phishing-prevention-solutions-in-your-organization/)[ Foundational 4m All 14 centers of Kettering Health were affected by a massive ransomware attack, Major outage in the Ohio medical center May 23, 2025 ](/blog/14-centers-of-kettering-health-were-affected-by-massive-ransomware-attack-in-ohio-medical-center/)[ Foundational 4m 2021 Phishing Trends You Need To Be Wary Of Aug 2, 2021 ](/blog/2021-phishing-trends-to-be-wary-of/) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"Phish Protection","url":"https://phishprotection.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://phishprotection.com/images/phishprotection-logo.png"},"description":"Advanced phishing protection and email security for businesses. 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