Friday
Aug062004
Harvard Researchers say they can Hack into Electronic Voting Systems:
Friday, August 6, 2004 at 12:47PM
Issue challenge to venders
Electronic voting systems have drawn fire from courts, lawmakers, and citizens groups--and now they're under attack by hackers. It's an organized assault, too. E-voting technology expert Rebecca Mercuri, a Harvard research fellow who has been outspoken in her opposition to such systems, has issued a "Hack the Vote" challenge, trying to illustrate what she calls their unreliability and vulnerability. "People in the election community say this technology is bulletproof," Mercuri says. "It's not." She especially opposes use of electronic voting technology in its current state, which does not allow for a verifiable backup.Mercuri says the likeliest e-voting fraud would involve unauthorized remote access to voting machines , when a hacker manipulates results; or backdoor access to voting systems by workers with approved access but their own agenda.[more]
Electronic voting systems have drawn fire from courts, lawmakers, and citizens groups--and now they're under attack by hackers. It's an organized assault, too. E-voting technology expert Rebecca Mercuri, a Harvard research fellow who has been outspoken in her opposition to such systems, has issued a "Hack the Vote" challenge, trying to illustrate what she calls their unreliability and vulnerability. "People in the election community say this technology is bulletproof," Mercuri says. "It's not." She especially opposes use of electronic voting technology in its current state, which does not allow for a verifiable backup.Mercuri says the likeliest e-voting fraud would involve unauthorized remote access to voting machines , when a hacker manipulates results; or backdoor access to voting systems by workers with approved access but their own agenda.[more]