© Jon Reis / www.jonreis.com
PENN YAN – The front-running Democratic candidate for New York’s 27th Congressional District is highlighting her concerns regarding cyber security, including how unprepared the United States when it comes to the 2020 Federal Elections.
Candidate Tracy Mitrano (D-Penn Yan) says that that recent revelations of the extent and reach of foreign intervention on the 2020 election has exposed the vulnerability of the country’s defenses against political warfare, especially in the cyber domain.
Mitrano, who is retired college administrator and specializes in cyber-security policy, said that its time the U.S. properly prepares for the ever-growing threat of cyber warfare and revealed her plan for moving forward if she were to win the congressional seat.
“We should be working assiduously with our intelligence community in order to find the best ways that we can address our vulnerabilities, whether it be at the very technical levels for intrusions detection or to fund software research and development to make the Internet more secure, because at the basic technical level, those protocols are agnostic,” Mitrano said during a recent conference call with regional media. “They can not be made to filter at the most basic network level whether something is good or bad. We can build software that can do that, but that research is not being adequately funded and we have excellent researches in our field that can do that.”
During the call Mitrano also said the impact of this threat is not just focused on the election, but also in the safety and privacy of everyday online consumers and users. She said that’s why Congress needs to do more to prepare and have a long-term action plan in place, not just for this year, but for future years as well.
According to her campaign website, Mitrano’s past professional experience includes teaching American History, family and social policy, and Internet law. She also is an attorney and had practiced corporate and family law before becoming the Director of Internet Policy at Cornell University. She has also operated an information management, security, and privacy consulting business and, in 2016, created a cybersecurity certificate program for the University of Mass- Amherst.
Mitrano is one of two Democrats who’ve announced their intention to seek the party’s nomination to run against incumbent Rep. Tom Reed (R-Corning) in the 2020 general election. The other candidate being oral surgeon Dr. Scott Noren of Ithaca.
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