2024 was a year with growing ransomware attacks, accelerating use of artificial intelligence (for good and evil), more deepfakes in online fraud and election threats being overstated, but Donald Trump becoming president-elect (again) is the top 2024 cyber story.
When we look back at this past year’s cybersecurity stories a decade from now, what will we remember most? That is the question that I attempt to answer every mid-December in the “Lohrmann on Cybersecurity” annual cyber review.
Dan Lohrmann
My answer for calendar year 2024 will no doubt surprise some readers. I believe that Donald J. Trump’s re-election, including the smooth election process, lack of significant hacking, and minimal election fraud or evidence of major cyber threats to voting, is this year’s top cybersecurity story.
Why the surprise?
Despite the reality that President-elect Trump’s re-election was THE top story for 2024 in the USA (and perhaps globally), many will ask: What does Trump’s victory have to do with the cyber industry?
Others might add: “He’s not even the president yet!”
My response: Trump’s re-election, along with subsequent new senior appointments, such as Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy leading the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will be remembered most in 10 years. While new budgets, laws, executive orders, directives and policies will not take place until after his inauguration in January 2025, the promise of major action with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), changes in world wars, approach to government regulation, and even reaction from the stock market are already happening in 2024.
No doubt election cybersecurity coverage was a top theme this year, but the actual levels of hacking and (on-the-ground) interruptions were far less than many predicted. Indeed, the elections went off with minimal disruption or protests.
So why is the Trump re-election so significant for cybersecurity? Here are just some of the many reasons:
1) Dramatic changes in leadership for federal government in numerous agencies.
2) As described in detail by Governing,* Trump will take a largely deregulatory approach to tech, while aiming to aggressively pursue foreign cyber threat actors. Expect major tech and cyber policies to change as never before for the feds.
3) Ukraine approach under Trump will be overhauled, including U.S. aid and cyber impacts.
4) Russia and China cyber strategies will change under Trump 2.0.
5) The incoming Trump administration is unlikely to continue some key elements of President Joe Biden’s 2023 National Cybersecurity Strategy, including industry regulation and liability, says Brookings.
6) Data privacy policy will change.
7) Approach to crypto will change.
8) Leadership on AI and other new tech will change with new support.
9) Back to the start, budget cuts from DOGE will make new security priorities clear very quickly.
10) State and local governments, as well as critical infrastructure sectors, will likely be impacted by the Trump approach to cybersecurity, which will be far different than President Biden.
Read the rest of Dan Lohrmann’s column at GovTech
