Computer science expert to Senate Intel: voting technology highly hackable , must upgrade by 2018

[Amaryllis]

J. Alex Halderman: Our voting structure is vulnerable to sabotage, even to attacks that can change votes Computer science professor whose research focuses on computer security and privacy has (with colleagues) studied voting machines and tested and verified that they can be hacked by foreign actors. "The key lesson from 2016 is that these threats are real." What needs to happen: * Upgrade old voting machines to new ones that have optical character recognition to recognize votes made on paper ballots. * Use those paper backups to verify the ballot count is accurate. * Harden voting systems against sabotage by applying cybersecurity best practices. We can upgrade our election infrastructure by 2018.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4674512/j-alex-halderman-voting-structure-vulnerable-sabotage-even-attacks-can-change-votes

A computer science professor told the Senate Intelligence Committee Wednesday that voting machines that create an electronic record of the voters' decisions are open to fraud and computer hacking, vulnerabilities that are big enough to potentially change the outcome of some elections.

J. Alex Halderman, professor of computer science at Michigan University, said he and his team began studying "direct-recording electronic" (DRE) voting machines 10 years ago and found that "we could reprogram the machine to invisibly cause any candidate to win. We also created malicious software — vote-stealing code — that could spread from machine-to-machine like a computer virus, and silently change the election outcome."

Halderman's testimony comes as the committee is trying to assess the scope of Russia's attempts to not only spread disinformation in the 2016 elections, but also its efforts to hack into U.S. voting systems.

As a computer science professor, Halderman has not only run academic trials on hacking voting machines, he has also run real-time examples.

"The one instance when I was invited to hack a real voting system while people were watching was in Washington D.C in 2010, and in that instance it took less than 48 hours for us to change all the votes and we were not caught," Halderman said about the experiment.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/computer-expert-some-voting-machines-can-be-directly-hacked/article/2626633

At least he is saying it CAN be upgraded by 2018. At least the Russia hacks are bringing awareness to just how vulnerable our election technology is. Many have been trying to call attention for years...it is good that finally this is coming out in hearings.

[SHRED]

1. Tragic mess.

[Eliot Rosewater]

3. And the president is openly tweeting support for our enemy by denying the hack, this is

treason plain and simple.

Next year we can assume Russia will make our decisions for us.

p.s. Ossoff, GA? I dont believe for a second she won that election.

[Iggo]

2. Upgrade to hand-counted paper ballots?

I'm for it!

[procon]

4. If they were hackable by foreign actors then they were open to GOP operatives, too. nt

[Amaryllis]

5. Exactly, and have been for years, but it has been very difficult to get Dem leadership to take

that seriously. At least the testimonies on Russian hacking are revealing the vulnerabilities that computer scientists have been screaming about for years.

[diva77]

11. absolutely - IMHO, they were made to order for GOP nt

[NightWatcher]

6. Orrrrrr we could hack the shit out of it for our own benefit.

When the Dems sweep an entire election you can bet your ass they'd make it secure.

[Phoenix61]

7. I do like the way you think

Excellent idea. Too bad we have to play nice and be the good guys.

[LaydeeBug]

8. THANK YOU FOR THIS. knr

[Hestia]

9. One of very first acts of the House after inauguration - House panel votes to close Election

House panel votes to close Election Assistance Commission

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/02/07/house-panel-votes-close-election-assistance-commission/97603326/

WASHINGTON — While President Drumpf is promising to launch an investigation into his belief that millions of illegal ballots were cast in 2016, the Republican-led House Administration Committee voted Tuesday to shut down the federal agency set up to help states improve their election systems.

Rep. Gregg Harper, R-Miss., chairman of the House Administration Committee, said the Election Assistance Commission has “outlived" his usefulness.

"It is time for the EAC to be officially ended," said Harper. "We don’t need fluff."

The committee voted 6-3 to approve Harper’s measure. It is not clear yet when and if the House will consider the measure. Harper has introduced a bill four times to eliminate the agency. The House has passed the legislation only once, but the measure may stand a better chance this session in the Republican-controlled Congress.

The GOP’s renewed effort comes just after Drumpf vowed to launch a federal probe into his claims of massive voter fraud. It also comes in the wake of charges that Russian hackers tried to destabilize the U.S. election. Harper said the EAC wouldn’t have jurisdiction over those matters anyway.

Republicans have long argued the agency is no longer needed and was only meant to be a temporary agency to dole out $3.1 billion to states to improve election systems after the disputed 2000 presidential election. That money is gone. Democrats, however, argue the EAC is needed now more than ever.
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https://www.thenation.com/article/house-republicans-just-voted-to-eliminate-the-only-federal-agency-that-makes-sure-voting-machines-cant-be-hacked/

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[diva77]

10. I wish he had spoken more strongly against optiscans as well...remember Wisconsin 5% discrepancy!!

from 2016 election caught on video:

Link to tweet

elections official bullying citizens who clearly found a discrepancy between the optiscan count and the hand count and flat out refusing to do a hand count of a ward of approximately 300 people.

this is why we need HAND COUNTED PAPER BALLOTS at the PRECINCT level with PUBLIC OVERSIGHT!!!!!

[TheFrenchRazor]

12. just get rid of the machines; we need all hand counted paper ballots, all the time. nt