If Super Tuesday went a long way toward deciding which presidential candidates will face off in November, what can we decipher about where the prospective nominees would lead the country on cybersecurity issues?
There’s a straightforward answer for Democrat Hillary Clinton. The question gets trickier when it comes to Republican Donald Trump.
“I think a Clinton presidency would most likely continue the policy direction of President Obama,” said Larry Clinton, president and CEO of the Internet Security Alliance (and no relation to the candidate).
“There actually is a great deal of consensus on the general direction for cybersecurity policy between Republicans and Democrats: a voluntary incentive-based approach rather than the old government-centric regulatory model,” ISA’s Clinton said. “I think [Hillary] Clinton would continue that direction. Hopefully she would focus more on actual implementation than we have seen so far.”
Larry Clinton added that he would like to see greater efforts to promote the U.S. cyberapproach overseas, and noted that Secretary of State Clinton “established the first dedicated effort on cybersecurity at the State Department and I think she would be especially sensitive to expanding the U.S. model to the world stage, where I think she would have substantial success.”
Trump hasn’t offered a detailed description of his approach to cybersecurity, other than suggesting he would be much tougher on China.
“I don’t have any personal insight into the Trump campaign, but he is a businessman and he will no doubt try to do things for the military like support greater investment,” Larry Clinton observed. “It’s hard to imagine a lifelong businessman would now be promoting cyberregulations in this space. Of course, yes, Mr. Trump does seem to be difficult to predict.”
Trump occasionally talks up the importance of the issue on the campaign trail. Last month on a swing through Georgia, he pledged to support the military’s cybermission.
He has also called on supporters to boycott Apple products until the company settles its dispute with the FBI over accessing data in the encrypted devices of the San Bernardino terrorists.
The candidate is staking out turf as pro-military and pro-law enforcement, but he has yet to reveal much in the way of an operating philosophy on cybersecurity.
He did mention the need to fight intellectual property theft in a white paper on China released before the South Carolina primary, which he won.
Perhaps there are a few clues to be found among the politicians who have endorsed Trump.
The billionaire real estate mogul’s biggest “get” so far was his former presidential rival, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
Christie actually put the Garden State at the forefront of local cybersecurity efforts with the recent launch of the first state-level cyberinformation-sharing and analysis organization, the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell, or NJCCIC.
“Our interconnectivity is one of our state’s strengths, but it’s also increasingly a threat for those who would seek to disrupt or harm people in our state,” Christie said. “Through the NJCCIC, we’re working to protect our citizens’ privacy and ensure the public and private sector are prepared to manage their cyberrisks.”
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., the first senator to endorse Trump, helped block a cybersecurity bill in 2012 that included regulatory mandates.
Trump’s paper trail on cyberissues is quite thin, but expect to hear more after he firmly locks down the nomination.
Charlie Mitchell is editor of InsideCybersecurity.com, an exclusive service covering cybersecurity policy from Inside Washington Publishers, and author of “Hacked: The Inside Story of America’s Struggle to Secure Cyberspace,” coming this spring from Rowman and Littlefield.
