Google's parent company Alphabet is offering U.S.-based political groups free cyber protection ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, The Hill reports.
Project Shield, run by Jigsaw, is a free service that protects sites from Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks. The service has been available to journalists, election boards and human rights groups for several years, and is now expanding to cover qualified political action committees, campaigns and candidates.
"Digital attacks against democratic institutions have grown in frequency and intensity in the United States and globally," Dan Keyserling, a spokesperson for Jigsaw, wrote in a blog post. "By simply overwhelming computer systems and servers with targeted flood traffic, DDoS attacks are being used to silence political speech and voters' access to the information they need.
"Political parties, campaigns, and organizations are a growing target. These organizations are critical parts of the democratic process, and they deserve the same defenses against cyber-attacks that we've offered to news organizations around the world."
The move comes a day after the Department of Homeland Security unveiled a new cyber security strategy amid concerns about the security of the 2018 congressional elections and numerous high-profile hacking of U.S. companies. The DHS also said the voter registration rolls in 21 states were hacked by Russia ahead of the 2016 election.
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