Local cybersecurity expert warns of phishing scams during election season

by Kaelin Clay

Wed, September 11th 2024

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — A local cybersecurity expert is urging people to pay close attention to messages around election season that may appear to be candidates or causes sending the messages.

View the full interview here.

Tom Flak, Director of Cyber Programs at Forge Institute, says there's an uptick in phishing concerns during election seasons because people are already used to receiving campaign messages.

“While you normally should be suspicious when you get an email from someone you don’t know or don’t really communicate with, during the election season, you do kind of expect to get unsolicited emails from political campaigns," Flak says.

Flak says these phishing messages can appear to be candidates or causes asking for donations, but they can contain links asking for personal information, like credit card numbers.

Flak says these messages can embody a sense of urgency, providing a space for people to react to emotional messaging on a particular issue. Flak says it's an effective time for senders of phishing messages to access personal information.

“Last night during the presidential debate, my phone was buzzing every few minutes with text messages asking to raise money, [reading] 'Do it now, do it within 24 hours because we’re going to match your donation by three times or five times,'" Flak says.

To stay secure, Flak says to always look closely at the spelling of the link before you click anything.

“If you look very carefully where there would normally be an 'I' or something, they might put in a number '1' or an 'L,' and what that means is it’s going to a completely different site, and to your eyes if you glance at it, it might look legitimate," Flak says.

Pulaski County Election Coordinator Amanda Dickens urges votes to stay cautious this election cycle, making sure any campaign messages are actually coming from the stated source.

“If you get an email or a text, just be really suspicious of that and ask yourself, 'Did I sign up for this? Is this something you know that I wanted, or is this some random text that is coming through?'” Dickens says.