And then there were none. Following the resignation of chief information security officer (CISO) Mick Baccio from the Pete Buttigieg presidential campaign, there are now no known CISOs spearheading cybersecurity for the top Democratic presidential candidates, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

Baccio, who resigned over cybersecurity disagreements, told TechCrunch, "I had fundamental philosophical differences with campaign management regarding the architecture and scope of the information security program."

Following Baccio's exit, however, Buttigieg campaign press secretary Chris Meagher told CyberScoop that the campaign continues to fight against cyber threats. "Our campaign has retained a new security firm and continues to be committed to digital security and protecting against cyberattacks."

To be sure, while there are no known CISOs in presidential campaigns, there are cyber personnel that staff these organizations. Joe Biden's campaign, for instance, told Legaltech News that it has brought on personnel to safeguard its infrastructure.  

"Biden for President takes cybersecurity seriously and has hired high-quality personnel to ensure that the campaign's assets are secured," wrote deputy national press secretary Matt Hill in an email. Hill declined to provide further details. 

Other Democratic hopefuls have been mum on details about their campaign's cybersecurity personnel. Requests for information regarding campaign CISO or cybersecurity-specific personnel from U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders weren't responded to by press time. Likewise, the Trump-Pence campaign didn't respond to a request for comment regarding its cybersecurity campaign personnel.

Still, while campaigns may have cyber personnel, experts stressed the need for all candidates to specifically have a CISO type role in place to help manage their overall cybersecurity program.

"If you don't have a chief information security officer and you are running a sophisticated campaign, and you are looking to the IT professional that staffs your IT desk and makes sure the printer prints, you are surely misguided," said John Stark, a lawyer and owner of incident response and digital compliance provider John Reed Stark Consulting. He added: "You are also taking on extreme and dangerous risks."

Some were less hung up on the CISO title, instead arguing that there should be someone filling a specific cyber role, whether employed full time or working as an outside consultant. "I'm less fixated on what the title is but instead someone having the responsibility every morning [to check that] the electronics connected to the network have ideal security," said Siobhan Gorman, a partner at advisory firm Brunswick Group and a member of Harvard University's Defending Digital Democracy Project.

Like other organizations, the responsibilities for a CISO in a presidential campaign would include implementing information governance policies, educating staff on cyber prevention and monitoring platforms.

"In the campaigns, you see technology more than before," said Drexel University CISO Dr. Pablo Molina. "They are using databases, social networks and algorithms for the campaigns. This means a bigger target for the bad guys."

Campaigns may have a hard time handling the bigger bull's-eye on their back given their potentially underdeveloped cyber infrastructure, experts said. However, once a candidate becomes the party's nominee, it has greater access to resources, Gorman said. But she warned waiting too long to implement effective cybersecurity standards has long-standing consequences.

"One of the important reasons they just can't wait to rely on party support and resources for security is smart adversaries will be trying to get into all campaign networks months ago," Gorman said. "Then they'll just wait to actually truly mount the attack."

To be sure, bringing a CISO aboard can lead to complications between staffers clashing over operations, observers said. Take for example that utilizing social media outreach for the campaign isn't simply posting content.

"Someone makes a business decision to make this type of information available on social media, it's up to the CISO to have a governance scheme and policy scheme that people are best-equipped to deter any cyberattack," Stark said.

Additionally, the CISO and staffers may disagree on platforms to leverage, Molina added.

For example, a campaign staffer may utilize text messages to communicate with staff, while the CISO may find sensitive information shouldn't be shared on that unsecured platform. "I'm sure this creates a lot of tension between the CISO and the people that work on the campaign," Molina noted.