FRANKFURT: Google and sister company Jigsaw are joining forces to defend election organisers and civic groups against cyber attacks free of charge as the broader tech industry seeks to fend off criticism that it is not doing enough to stop online efforts to distort elections.

Alphabet Inc subsidiaries Jigsaw and Google are offering a free ‘Protect Your Election’ package to low-budget organisations. The service to ward off website attacks has already been offered to news organisations for the past year under what is known as Project Shield.

Last week Jigsaw, which develops security tools for civic groups, teamed up with Google to defend a voter information website that came under cyber attack during the Dutch national election.

The KiesKompas and Stemwijzer websites — used by about half of Dutch voters to see which parties best match their political views — were knocked out by a deluge of web traffic on March 14, which spilled over into election day. KiesKompas, which rougly translates as ChoiceCompass, enlisted the help of Jigsaw on the evening of March 14, while Stemwijzer, or VoteGuide, signed up NBIP, a non-profit group set up by about 100 Dutch internet and telecoms providers.

The election guide services remained out of action on the morning of the vote, but both were successfully restored to service around midday.

Google vowed on Tuesday to police its websites better by ramping up staff numbers and overhauling its policies after several companies deserted the internet giant for failing to keep their adverts off hate-filled videos.

A spokesman for Jigsaw said on Tuesday that it plans to offer the Protect Your Election suite free to individuals and organisations involved in forthcoming national votes in France, South Korea and Germany and subsequent elections as they occur. Sustained high-volume attacks at decisive moments during elections can quickly run up thousands of dollars in bills — a big stretch for civic groups with minimal funding.

In addition to Project Shield, Jigsaw is offering Password Alert to ward off attempts to steal Google passwords and Two-Step Verification for an added layer of protection on web and mobile accounts as part of its Protect Your Election toolkit.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2017