Posted on 09/28/2018 5:23:45 AM PDT by MarchonDC09122009
https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2018/09/hackers-report-cites-staggering-vulnerabilities-us-voting-systems/151637/
Hackers Report Cites ‘Staggering’ Vulnerabilities in U.S. Voting Systems
By JOSEPH MARKS
SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 04:19 PM ET
The report from DEF CON’s Voting Village found one bug that alone could flip the Electoral College. Another has gone unfixed for 11 years.The number and severity of hackable vulnerabilities in voting machines across the U.S. is “staggering,” according to a Thursday report from computer security researchers at the DEF CON cybersecurity convention, which took place in August in Las Vegas.
Among other vulnerabilities, the report cites a voting tabulator that can be remotely hacked and is in use in 23 states.
“Because the device in question is a high-speed unit designed to process a high volume of ballots for an entire county, hacking just one of these machines could enable an attacker to flip the Electoral College and determine the outcome of a presidential election,” the report states.
Another vulnerability, which was present on voting machines used in 2016, contains a vulnerability that was first disclosed to the public in 2007, the report states.
The report was released during a conference in Washington. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., who opened that conference, criticized voting machine companies for not allowing ethical hackers to probe their machines for vulnerabilities.
“The veracity of our voting system has been inadequate for a very long time and we have not taken it seriously,” Speier said.
Speier called the conference one of the “two most important things happening in our country,” a reference to the Senate Judiciary hearing focused on sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh happening at the same time.
Congress allocated an additional $380 million for states and localities to improve election systems earlier this year.
Homeland Security Department officials have said that funding is likely insufficient for all the necessary upgrades and many upgrades will not be complete before the 2018 midterms.
The DEF CON report cites vulnerabilities produced by the supply chain for voting machine parts, which is “global and has essentially no process identifying what sources machine parts come from.” That opens up the possibility of malware or spyware implanted by U.S. adversaries, the report states.
State and local election officials often claim that critical voting functions are “air-gapped,” meaning they’re not accessible via the internet, but DEF CON hackers were frequently able to remotely access those systems, the report found.
In one case, hackers found a vulnerability affecting an electronic card that millions of Americans use to activate voting terminals that could be remotely reprogrammed with a mobile phone.
Ethical hackers found a similarly broad slate of vulnerabilities during the 2017 conference.
Homeland Security Department officials have said that funding is likely insufficient for all the necessary upgrades and many upgrades will not be complete before the 2018 midterms.
Homeland security ought o put his as their highest priority. But they would never do that.
We need national ID cards for voting. It’s not a complete fix, but it would help and it would be straight forward.
Until there is an enforced death penalty for fraud in federal elections, the Democtrats will perpetrate fraud to ensure winning elections.
People with Odungo phones(7 of them) who have “neighbors” who used their phones to vote times 1.2 million
Pshaw. It’s a Democrat, preparing a talking-point for the coming Red Wave.
If you go to the top 25 GDP countries in the world....they all have national ID cards, and those are required to be shown at registration and voting.
I’ve traveled through Europe for three decades and observed the constant use of the national ID cards. You want beer, alcohol, or some prescription drug....you present your national ID card. The cost is relative...if folks are that hard-up for cash...fine, we can pay for a quarter of the population to get a free card.
My thought exactly!
Paper ballots need to made the only lawful form of voting, with Photo Identification mandatory.
The biggest problem is the lack of Voter vetting and indentification. Hacking voting machines pales as a threat in comparison. Voting machines are not networked and are run by each county.
Maybe we could skip a step and just go directly to the mark on the forehead or right hand.
Say it ain’t so, wanna see my shocked face?
Why would vote counting machines be connected to the internet or any network in the first place? That would be the first line of defense. Like the photos of a condom on the LAN cable.
That’s a designed-in feature. Every flaw in our voting system was introduced in order to facilitate ‘Rat fraud. That’s why they fight so hard whenever anyone tries to fix anything.
We actually require that of nations when we have gone in to help after wars or turmoil (yes probably we created during nation building phases)where they have serious problems in voting as we help them “restart” their democracies -
We are at that point here...we should do that with the mid terms and in 2020 if we haven’t fixed these problems - require paper ballots and or the finger in the ink that stays for a month to prevent multiple voting. Primitive, yes and that’s where congress has lead this nations voting from a Constitutional republic to a banana republic democracy!
Will Chinese hackers help democrats cheat? Iranians? Or just the usual corrupt hacks like Ed Rendell ...
Paper ballots and Purple fingers.
Trials are in 24 of 55 counties and will ONLY BE FOR OVERSEAS MILITARY AND GOV'T. personnel. There is to be NO in-state voting by Smartphone.
Just telling the "rest of the story"
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