Antonia-Laura Pup: They Didn't Need to Change the Vote Count

<p>Election security expert Antonia-Laura Pup talks with co-hosts Joe Patti and Adam Roth about how attacks are coming not just from the cyber world, but also through influencers and social media. Romania had to annul an election in response. And the small nation of Moldova fought back with the tools Antonia believes other countries will need to deploy to defend democracy.</p><p><br /></p><p>Antonia is a Romanian security researcher focused on these issues in her home country and others.</p><p><br /></p><p>In this episode:</p><ul><li>Why Romania's presidential election was annulled and why explaining that decision mattered.</li><li>What the declassified reports on the Romanian election described about coordinated TikTok accounts, influencer payments, and attacks on election systems.</li><li>20:32 How the annulment deepened public distrust in Romania.</li><li>26:34 How Moldova handled their own election interference issues.</li><li>32:08 Moldova's pre-election disclosures, public warnings, civil-society fact-checking, and outside cyber help formed its response.</li><li>43:29 The wider lesson: why Antonia sees political will, not just technical capacity, as decisive, and why she does not want the military policing people's minds.</li><li>57:11 EU cyber sanctions: a potential response to cyberattacks, but too slow to be the whole answer.</li></ul>