Malicious Online Activities Related to the 2012 U.S. General Election

This presentation looks back at the number of ways that the 2012 Presidential election was bought, sold, and manipulated through malicious online activities. We identify activities that could be classified as manipulative, mischievous, or downright illegal, such as fake campaign donation sites, political spam, attempts to sell ballots, privacy violations, and rogue Super PACs. For each of these activities we provide examples of sources that demonstrate their online presence during the 2012 election and include additional information. We also include examples of malicious election activity in recent elections. Finally, we attempt to examine and discuss the motivations and methods behind these malicious activities.

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