Ukraine Computer Involved In Tennessee Elections Attack

[DonViejo]

Source: Talking Points Memo



By Adrian Sainz | May 12, 2018 9:16 am

Investigators found evidence of a “malicious intrusion” into a Tennessee county’s elections website from a computer in Ukraine during a concerted cyberattack, which likely caused the site to crash just as it was reporting vote totals in this month’s primary.

Cyber-security experts hired by Knox County to analyze the so-called “denial of service” cyberattack, said Friday that “a suspiciously large number of foreign countries” accessed the site as votes were being reported on May 1.

That intense activity was among the likely causes of the crash, according to the report by Sword & Shield Enterprise Security.

“Given the circumstantial evidence_especially the simultaneous proven malicious intrusion from a Ukraine IP address_I think it is reasonable to at least hypothesize that it was an intended event,” David Ball, the county’s deputy director of information technology, added in an email to The Associated Press.

Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/ukraine-computer-involved-tennessee-elections-attack

[dlk]

1. Time, Once Again, for Paper Ballots. The Voting Machines are Too Easily Hacked

What's the point in voting if the machines are hacked? This is an enormous threat to our democracy. If we truly want to continue, it's time to make a much larger investment in expanding and protecting the voting process.

[DallasNE]

3. ATM Machines Never Get Hacked

So why is that technology not used for voting systems. But until that architecture can be tested and hacking eliminated we need paper.

[Igel]

11. They can be.

If there's physical access to the machine. Just like e-voting machines.

Often ATMs have dedicated landlines or they involve dial-up connections. Both are easily secured. If you don't know the phone number, you can't call. If you do, you have to have the right passcodes fairly quickly or the machine goes into secure mode. If there are 5 million possibilities and you can only try 3-4 every 5 minutes, you'll be hacking a long, long time.

And if the landline is dedicated, either through an ISP or direct connection, you can't get to the signal to hack it.

BTW, a lot of e-voting machines are connected in exactly these two ways. They call up the server to download their information. Or they're connected using a dedicated line to communicate with the server, which is otherwise not connected to the Internet. This information is often included in stories that deal with Russian "voter systems" hacking in summer/fall '16, but since (a) it's not understood and (b) it contradicts what's needed to be believed, it's easily overlooked.

There *are*, IIRC, some voting machines that are more open. But you still need to know their IP addresses to get to them. Those could be found, but you'd have to know where and when to look.

[crazycatlady]

16. A lot of ATM machines are made by the same companies as voting machines

ATMs leave a paper trail both on the front end and back end (I used to work at a bank and would balance them). Voting machines should be able to generate two receipts (one for the voter, one for the BOE) that says that a vote was cast for Mickey Mouse for governor, Bugs Bunny for Senate, and Batman for Congress, etc. This is on top of the receipt type list that is already generated by most voting machines at poll closing time "Mickey Mouse received X votes, Bugs Bunny received Y votes, etc).

[Achilleaze]

2. KGOP republicans applaud the intrusion

...and meanwhile stay busy making plans to do nothing to protect US democracy and the 2018 elections from massive fraudulent interference by their darkside buddies in russia and the ukraine.

[DemocracyMouse]

4. ...and didn't Bolton just recommend removing the WH cyber-security oversight position?

Are these goons colluding, or are there biological systems at work where like minds and behaviours naturally partner with each other? We might note that it's collusion if it's conscious, but if consciousness is deemed an illusion generated biologically, perhaps we should start (with an open, Renaissance mind) looking at "thuggish congealing." It might help guide "principled congealing" to surround and dissolve the cancer.

[OregonBlue]

5. Of course it was the type of machines that have no paper trail and of course they have not

contacted the FBI.

[thucythucy]

6. K & R for visibility

[ancianita]

7. Boom. K & R

[They_Live]

8. K & R n/t

[dalton99a]

9. Kick

[bluestarone]

10. K&R

K&R

[Nitram]

12. My guess is that the hack originated in Russia but was routed through a Ukraine computer.

Kill two birds with one stone: cover up Russian involvement and frame Ukraine.

[stevenleser]

14. That was my initial guess as well. Or, Russian agents were working from a

Safe house they set up in Ukraine

[samnsara]

13. we have all mail in ballots...perfect 'cept we have to pay the postage...grrrrr

...now I have to go find a stamp before i can vote!!

[riversedge]

15. Wish I had your problem