Forbes: "High-tech votes can be hacked, scientists say"

[ianbruce]

WASHINGTON, July 24 (Reuters) - Software flaws in a high-tech voting system could allow vandals to tamper with election results in several U.S. states, computer security researchers said on Thursday.

... researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Rice University said they had uncovered bugs in a Diebold Inc. (nyse: DBD - news - people) voting system that could allow voters and poll workers to cast multiple ballots, switch others' votes, or shut down an election early. "It's unfortunate to find flaws in a system as potentially important as this one," Tadayoshi Kohno, a graduate student at the John Hopkins Information Security Institute, said in a telephone interview.

A Diebold spokesman did not return several telephone calls seeking comment.

... (Avi Rubin, technical director of the Information Security Institute) said the software was so full of errors that it would have to be rewritten completely. Even then, he said, computers and voting should not mix. "I am against electronic voting because I think voting is too important and computers are too difficult to secure," he said...

http://www.forbes.com/markets/bonds/newswire/2003/07/24/rtr1037484.html

[PartyPooper]

1. Thanks, Bev Harris, for your diligence and all of your hard work!

:bounce:

[ianbruce]

3. Agreed. Notice that this is in Forbes' "Breaking News" section...

and not buried somewhere... Props to Bev!

[w13rd0]

2. WOO HOO!

Now let Bush just TRY and force these crappy kiosks down our throats with everyone knowing how horrid they are. Storm the Bastille!

[Nambe]

4. And..the online military vote really worries me.

All those tortured soldier's votes will most likely arrive as a dimson vote. Over a million counting military and non-military. What a shame. If anybody deserves a voice, those kids risking their lives do.

[leftchick]

5. well this part sure jumps out at me...

from Mr. Rubin...

<Even then, he said, computers and voting should not mix. "I am against electronic voting because I think voting is too important and computers are too difficult to secure," he said...>


That was my gut feeling the first time I used a touch-screen and I am a not even computer savvy. Bring back the pencils and papers!!

[cprise]

6. Kick

Please 'blip' the article by clicking on it.

[hedda_foil]

7. Thanks, I didn't realize Forbes needed kicking like Yahoo.

Doing it now.

[havocmom]

8. And take a minute to give them an 'atta boy!'

by making a comment that you are grateful they are helping get this crucial mater out before the voting public.

[cprise]

9. yes, writing is even better

'blipping' (loading the page of) certain stories on commercial sites raises their advertising revenue and encourages them to write according to the sensibilities in the higher-volume stories.