Cyberattacks a growing danger to democracy, Clinton warns
Sounding alternately angry and rueful, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned a crowd at Stanford University on Friday night about the growing danger to democracy posed by cyberattacks on the country’s political system.
Clinton painted her loss to Republican Donald Trump in November’s presidential election as the opening volley in what she called a new level of political warfare.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his intelligence services jumped into the 2016 presidential race “in a brazen assault ... to throw an election to their preferred candidate,” she said.
But the Russian interference, which has also been seen in recent European elections, was about far more than just her own campaign, Clinton added.
“The Russians are working to turn Americans against each other,” she said. “They want to fan the flames of division and weaken us.”
Clinton was in the Bay Area as part of the tour for her new book on the 2016 campaign, “What Happened.” She stopped at Stanford to celebrate the university’s new Global Digital Policy Incubator, which addresses not only digital technology, but also digital security, digital rights and government standards for the
Internet.
An enthusiastic audience of more than 500 people, most of them students, jammed into Cemex Auditorium to hear Clinton give a 25minute speech and then spend almost another hour in an onstage conversation with Eileen Donahoe, executive director of the new incubator.
“There’s a part of me that wishes you couldn’t be here for this,” Donahoe said as she greeted the two-time presidential candidate.
“Me too,” Clinton shot back.
Clinton said she was shocked to see how widespread the Russian cyberattacks were. Not only did they hack into computers at the Democratic National Committee and one belonging to John Podesta, her campaign manager, but recent reports have shown the Russians also used staterun news services such as RT and Sputnik to spread disinformation. The Russians, disguising themselves as American groups and organizations, spent tens of thousands of dollars buying online political ads on Facebook and Twitter and focusing them on states such as Michigan and Wisconsin, where Trump squeezed out narrow victories.
“They flooded the zone with ads designed to whip up support for Donald Trump,” she said.
The country can’t afford to let that type of outside interference happen again, Clinton said, not only in politics, but also in cyberattacks on the military, state, local and national governments and the nation’s businesses and infrastructure.
The government must make it clear that “cyberattacks on vital information sources should be treated as an act of war” and responded to appropriately, she added.
Clinton closed with a plea for students not to be discouraged by a political loss like November’s.
“Young people can’t afford to be depressed,” she said. “The future is more about you than me.”
Political action can change political direction, Clinton added as she called for the students to take their concerns into the political arena.
“We need you, we need your votes,” she urged. “And some of you need to move to other states.”