One Weak Link: Why Third-Party Cybersecurity Matters in Political Campaigns

Headlines regularly feature campaigns under siege from foreign adversaries and cybercriminals, but these stories often overlook a critical vulnerability: campaign consultants, vendors, and volunteers frequently serve as the entry points for these attacks.

Third-party risk emerges whenever an outside individual or firm gains access to a campaign's secure or sensitive data—a scenario that describes virtually every modern political campaign. From digital strategists to data analysts, from fundraising platforms to voter outreach tools, campaigns operate through an interconnected ecosystem of service providers, each representing a potential security breach point.

Political professionals supporting campaigns, parties, PACs, and advocacy organizations must recognize they aren't merely service providers—they're trusted stewards. Bad actors look to exploit the trusted relationships third parties have with campaigns. Every consultant with email access to campaigns or campaign emails in their contacts, every vendor with database credentials, and every volunteer with campaign app permissions creates another possible entry point for adversaries. The security practices of these third parties are no longer peripheral concerns but central to campaign resilience. Political professionals and firms are also targeted because, if compromised, they can be the gateway to many campaigns at once. 

This report outlines practical, proven approaches for political professionals to strengthen their security posture, protecting both themselves and their clients from increasingly sophisticated threats that target the most vulnerable links in the campaign security chain.

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Real-World Examples of Third-Party Risk

The consequences of inadequate third-party security practices are not theoretical—they have repeatedly disrupted American political campaigns with far-reaching implications.

Roger Stone Case: In 2016, political consultant Roger Stone's communications became a focal point of investigations when his email and text conversations were compromised. This breach exposed sensitive campaign strategy discussions and communications with WikiLeaks, demonstrating how a single consultant's security vulnerabilities can lead to campaign-wide exposure and legal complications.

John Podesta Phishing Attack: Perhaps the most notorious example occurred when Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta fell victim to a simple phishing email posing as a Google security alert. This single compromised account led to the release of over 20,000 emails, creating a sustained media crisis during a critical campaign period. The attack succeeded not through sophisticated means but through basic social engineering targeting a high-value campaign associate.

Senator Jerry Moran Campaign Fraud: In 2022, Senator Jerry Moran's campaign lost $690,000 through an invoicing scam where fraudsters impersonated a vendor. By compromising vendor email communications, attackers redirected legitimate campaign payments to fraudulent accounts, demonstrating how financial operations between campaigns and vendors create particular vulnerabilities.

These incidents underscore a common theme: campaigns are often breached not through direct attacks but through their extended network of trusted consultants, vendors, and partners.

Understanding the Risk

Political consultants and vendors often fail to recognize a crucial reality of their position: their relationship with campaigns fundamentally alters their security profile in two critical ways.

You Become a Target: By virtue of your access to campaign infrastructure, sensitive data, or strategic communications, you automatically become a high-value target for adversaries. Foreign intelligence services, politically-motivated hackers, and cybercriminals recognize that campaign professionals often have robust access privileges while typically operating with fewer security resources than the campaigns themselves. Your personal and professional accounts may be targeted not for their intrinsic value, but as gateways to campaign assets. This targeting occurs regardless of your role's prominence—from senior strategists to junior graphic designers with email access.

You Become a Vector: Beyond being targets themselves, third parties serve as potential attack vectors to reach campaigns. An attacker who compromises a vendor's account gains a privileged position from which to conduct further operations against the campaign. These attacks often leverage trusted relationships—malicious emails from a legitimate consultant's account are far more likely to be trusted by campaign staff. Similarly, compromised vendor software or services can introduce vulnerabilities directly into campaign operations, potentially affecting multiple clients simultaneously.

Understanding this dual risk is essential—political professionals must recognize they are no longer ordinary internet users but extensions of the campaign's security perimeter. The practices that might be sufficient for personal cybersecurity are inadequate when campaign integrity depends on your security posture.

Potential Vulnerabilities

Campaign consultants and vendors face a range of security vulnerabilities that adversaries routinely exploit. Understanding these common attack vectors is the first step toward effective protection.

Phishing Attacks: The most prevalent and successful attack method remains phishing—deceptive communications designed to steal credentials or install malware. Political professionals are prime targets for sophisticated phishing that may include:

• Emails appearing to come from campaigns requesting urgent action
• Messages mimicking common platforms like Google, Microsoft, or Slack
• Communications referencing specific events, polling numbers, or media coverage to appear legitimate
• Targeted "spear phishing" customized to the recipient's role and relationships

Spoofing and Impersonation: Closely related to phishing, spoofing involves adversaries impersonating trusted entities:

• Email spoofing where attackers forge sender addresses to appear as campaign officials
• Vendor impersonation to redirect campaign payments or deliverables
• Candidate or senior staff impersonation to request sensitive information
• Domain spoofing with slightly altered web addresses (e.g., campaignname-secure.com)

Compromised Personal Devices: Many campaign professionals use personal devices for client work, creating significant vulnerabilities:

• Unpatched operating systems and applications
• Devices shared with family members or used on unsecured networks
• Insufficient separation between personal and campaign-related accounts
• Unauthorized application access to sensitive information

Poor Credential Management: Credential practices remain a critical weakness:

• Reused passwords across personal and campaign accounts
• Shared access credentials among team members
• Weak password complexity insufficient to resist automated attacks
• Former employee access remaining active after engagement ends

Unsecured Communications: Political work often happens through ad-hoc communication channels:

• Unencrypted email containing sensitive strategic information
• Messaging apps without end-to-end encryption
• File sharing through unsecured methods
• Sensitive discussions on platforms without proper access controls

Adversaries specifically target these common vulnerabilities, looking for the path of least resistance into campaign infrastructure. For political professionals, recognizing these potential attack vectors is essential to understanding where security improvements will yield the greatest protection.

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Key Steps to Protect Yourself and Your Clients

Political consultants and vendors can significantly reduce third-party risk by implementing several critical security measures. These practices not only protect your own operations but also safeguard the campaigns you serve.

Secure Access to Your Systems

Strong, Unique Passwords: The foundation of account security begins with proper password management.

• Use a password manager like those built into browsers including Edge and Chrome 
• Create complex passwords with a minimum of 12 characters combining letters, numbers, and symbols
• Never reuse passwords across different accounts or services
• Change passwords immediately if a breach is suspected

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA): Add a crucial second layer of defense.

• Enable MFA on all accounts that offer it, especially email, cloud storage, and campaign platforms
• Use authenticator apps rather than SMS when possible (SMS is vulnerable to SIM-swapping attacks)
• Require MFA for all staff and subcontractors accessing campaign-related systems
• Keep backup authentication methods secure and accessible

Passkeys: Adopt this emerging authentication standard.

• Implement passkeys where available as they offer superior security to traditional passwords
• Passkeys eliminate phishing vulnerabilities by binding authentication to legitimate websites
• They remove the human element from credential management, reducing human error
• Major platforms including Google, Microsoft, and Apple now support passkey authentication

Securely Transfer Data

• Minimize the collection and transfer of Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
• Use anonymization or pseudonymization techniques when analyzing voter or donor data
• Transfer only the specific data fields necessary for the task at hand
• Establish clear data handling policies with all campaign partners

Data Hygiene

• Regularly audit stored data and purge information no longer needed for operations
• Implement formal data retention policies with specific timeframes
• Securely delete old backups, draft documents, and communication logs
• Remember that data you don't possess cannot be stolen in a breach

Email Authentication

• Deploy Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting & Conformance (DMARC) protocols
• DMARC prevents email spoofing by verifying that messages truly originate from your domain
• This protects both your organization and the campaigns you serve from impersonation attacks
• Work with your email provider or IT support to properly configure SPF and DKIM as DMARC prerequisites

Verify Payments

• Establish strict verification procedures for all financial transactions
• Require verbal confirmation through previously established phone numbers for:
  
  • Changes to payment information
  • New vendor setups
  • Unusual payment amounts or timing
• Create clear escalation paths when verification cannot be completed
• Document all verification steps taken for each significant transaction

User Management 

• Delete users from your system when staff leave. Dormant users are high value targets for compromise. 
• Manage users’ privileges where possible. Not all users need full access to all systems. For example, on Facebook, you can limit a person to be able to post and respond only. 
• Limit the number of users with admin privileges to as few people as possible. 
• Ensure all accounts with admin privileges use strong authentication – passkeys, security keys, or other MFA. 

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Implementing these security measures creates multiple layers of protection, significantly reducing the risk of your organization becoming either a target or a vector for attacks against political campaigns. While no security approach is perfect, these steps address the most common and dangerous vulnerabilities exploited by adversaries.

Conclusion

Political professionals don't want to be the reason a campaign is attacked, but without proper security measures, they can indeed become the weakest link in the campaign security chain. The threats are real and persistent, while the consequences of a breach extend far beyond technical inconvenience to potentially derailing entire campaigns. 

By implementing the security practices outlined in this report, consultants and vendors transform from potential vulnerabilities into security assets. In today's landscape of sophisticated digital threats, basic cybersecurity is no longer optional—it's a professional responsibility and a fundamental component of the service you provide to campaigns. Your clients trust you with their campaign's future; honor that trust with vigilant security practices.

This report is produced in collaboration with Defending Digital Campaigns, a 501(c)(4) non-profit, nonpartisan and non-aligned organization providing access to cybersecurity products, services and information regardless of party affiliation.