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Diebold Voting Systems Grossly Insecure

Posted by michael on from the vote-early-vote-often dept.

Several well-known security researchers have examined the code for Diebold's voting machines (which we last mentioned two weeks ago) and produced an extensive report (pdf). The NYT has a story on the report, which cuts to the bone: 'Our analysis shows that this voting system is far below even the most minimal security standards applicable in other contexts. We highlight several issues including unauthorized privilege escalation, incorrect use of cryptography, vulnerabilities to network threats, and poor software development processes. For example, common voters, without any insider privileges, can cast unlimited votes without being detected by any mechanisms within the voting terminal.'

7 of 534 comments (clear)

  1. interesting... by Dorothy+86 · · Score: 0, Troll

    I didn't know Microsoft made voting machine software!

    --
    Game Overdrive - Gaming News
  2. The wonders of technology by Muhammed+Absol · · Score: 0, Troll

    It's amazing how quickly we went from having to make entire ballot trucks disapear last election to merely having the same voter from the bush family vote several times. 2004: election year of the vote box spammers!

  3. Re:Does it really matter? by augros · · Score: 0, Troll

    but only dems say "lol" on slashdot.

  4. Just sent this to Congressman Boucher by SnappingTurtle · · Score: 1, Troll
    I just sent the technical paper to Congress Rick "One of the Few With a Clue" Boucher. Here's my email:
    Dear Rep. Boucher:

    I'm sending you the attached paper concerning serious flaws in an electronic voting system that is becoming increasingly popular in our country. I'm very concerned that if this system becomes widely used, we will have even worse voting problems than we had in Florida a few years ago.

    From time to time you and I have discussed the value of open source software vs. closed source software. The issue of electronic voting could not underscore the difference more. It appears that Diebold has allowed itself to fall prey to the worst problems of closed-source software, and we may all pay the price for it.

    Please look over the attached document and bring it the attention of your colleagues. I know that we were all ashamed by the situation in Florida in 2000 and we do not want to see it made even worse.

    Miko O'Sullivan
    Constituent

    --
    I've found that my posts don't format quite right w/o a sig.
  5. Pull a microsoft... by Epistax · · Score: 1, Troll

    Don't tell anyone about the problems, then when it becomes known you have infinite votes, call it a feature.

    Also introduce a talking chad to help you vote, and notify you when it looks like you're writing a letter.

  6. Dems should love that! by jav1231 · · Score: 0, Troll

    They won't have to rely on registering the dead to vote anymore! JAV

  7. At least... by Pac · · Score: 1, Troll

    At least this way our presidents are not elected by 20% of the population...

    (In the end, I agree with you that mandatory voting is dumb - but it is one of our smallest problems)