Elections2019: IECSouthAfrica beefs up security to guard against hackers
According to IEC Commissioner Dr Nomsa Masuku, the electoral organisation seeks to manage a potential election crisis similar to that experienced during the US election when Russia was accused of instituting a big social media campaign to meddle in the American polls or how Whatsapp was deemed to have influenced Nigeria's election results.
"You can never have a full proof unhackable system. When you do that, the hackers come around and test it and they actually have money to do that. If this were to happen it would affect our results system," she said. Speaking on the effects of social media, Masuku said: "You find that people put information on social media platforms in order to sway the outcomes of the elections. We have seen for example the allegations with the American elections, in France, Kenya, Brexit as well SADC where they talk of the Cambridge Analytica and the micro-targeting of voters.
In April last year, Facebook founder CEO Mark Zuckerberg was hauled before Congress in the US where he had to account for the so-called "data bridge" impacting his firm. Nigerians were met with threats to shut down the internet during the polls while recently in Benin, west of Africa, internet access was restored at the end of the elections.
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