How the Republican Convention Fends Off Hackers

By Issie Lapowsky for WIRED.

(Issie Lapowsky)

JUST A FEW blocks away from the Quicken Loans Arena where the Republican National Convention is taking place, past the barricaded streets being guarded by police officers, beyond the Secret Service checkpoint, down the escalator of the Cleveland Convention Center, deep in the belly of the building, you'll find a nondescript set of cubicles and a snack table set off to the side of a vast empty space. There sit a handful of geeks with laptops.

This digital age Dilbert cartoon is the RNC's cybersecurity command center, and while it may look as boring as any windowless office space in America, it's one of the most important places in all of Cleveland this week. That handful of geeks, who work for cybersecurity firms like ForeScout and Dark Cubed, are the RNC's only hope against hackers during what is a high-profile week for the most divisive presidential candidate in recent memory.

The task of securing the convention this year is tougher than any at other convention before it, because technology has changed so dramatically in four years. "The threat has certainly evolved," says Katherine Gronberg, vice president of government affairs for ForeScout. And though the company hasn't managed a convention in the past, she says, "I'm going to go out on a limb and make the assumption there are a lot more devices." And that means more hardware for her team to keep safe.

Related: How Poker Theory Explains Ted Cruz's Convention Speech

There are thousands of devices owned by the RNC staff alone, not to mention the sprawling network of journalists and contractors who rely on the RNC's Internet network as well. So how does the team keep those tools secure?

"At its most boring, it's network monitoring. It's real cyber hygiene stuff," says Gronberg. Exciting? Maybe not. But it's essential. ForeScout's technology continuously monitors the network for devices that look suspicious. When it finds one, it either keeps monitoring its activity or toss it off the network instantly depending on the perceived threat.

Meanwhile, Dark Cubed's team tracks the broader network. Its dashboard surfaces every domain and every IP address that touches the network, when it was first seen and last seen, how many times it's touched the network, and what its threat level is. "That lets us triage and prioritize," says Vince Crisler, CEO of Dark Cubed. And there's plenty to triage, like, for instance, one IP address out of China that Crisler says has been "slowly probing the network to see if there are any holes."

One source of comfort for the RNC and its security team, says chief information officer Max Everett, is that the convention itself isn't a data-rich target for hackers like, say, a bank or even the government. "We don't have a lot of information directly that nation states want," Everett says. "The vast majority of our risk is around disruption." By that he means, hackers who are just in it for the glory. Or the lulz.

But there's another risk: the Wi-Fi network used by delegates and members of the media inside the arena is completely open, which makes it insecure, Everett admits. Yesterday, a security firm called Avast Software published the results of an experiment it conducted in Cleveland, in which it set up a series of fake open Wi-Fi networks around the arena to see how many people would sign on and expose their personal information. In one day, 1,200 did, and 68.3 percent of their identities were exposed.

The open RNC Wi-Fi network is something the stadium provided to the convention, and while Everett says his team augmented it with some security precautions, he admits, "Open WiFi is open WiFi." Whether it's at a coffee shop or a national political event, it opens you up to hackers.

"When you're on an open WiFi you need to be smart," he says. "Have patch systems, use VPN."

Which sounds like sensible advice--for the tech savvy. But considering one delegate today asked if WIRED is one of those "webzines," it may be a lot to ask.

More from Wired:

Playboy Trades Nipples for Good Design, and It Works (NSFW)

Meet the Smartest, Cutest AI-Powered Robot You've Ever Seen

Fantastic Photos of Terrible Junk Food Around the World

9 of the World's Most Outrageously Expensive Headphones

Here's What Space Actually Looks Like to the Human Eye

Your Complete Guide to the Ever-Ballooning Marvel Cinematic Universe