The Hacker Vote – Overlooked No More
California’s Secretary of State, Debra Bowen, has only three days to decide which, if any, e-voting systems are reliable enough to be used in the state’s 2008 presidential primary election, which is scheduled for February 5. If you’re at all concerned about your chosen candidate’s chances for election in 2008, you may want to seek the services of your neighborhood computer whiz. That’s because a study conducted by a University of California team of researchers has found that all of the devices it tested are extremely vulnerable to hacking.
Three Strikes, You’re Hacked
The study tested three separate voting machines — one apiece from Diebold Election Systems, Hart InterCivic and Sequoia Voting Systems. All three failed.
Researchers tried a number of different tactics to alter the accurate reporting of votes. The methods ranged from tasks as easy as prying open a device’s housing, to more complicated means such as hacking into a system’s software, and the results were unfortunately quite successful.
Three Days To Decide
The completion of the research could not have come at a worse time for California’s Secretary of State, Debra Bowen. She has only three days to decide which, if any, systems are reliable enough to be used in the state’s 2008 presidential primary election, which is scheduled for February 5.
The companies which produce the machines criticized the study, saying it did not take into account the safeguards of the average voting environment. However, I would caution those companies to be careful what they wish for, as the poll place volunteers where I live can hardly prevent a coughing fit, let alone an electronic voting system security Relevant Products/Services breach.