BBV: NYT Feature Mentions Access Database Hack & More

[althecat]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/09/business/yourmoney/09vote.html?ex=1068958800&en=aa83991f48b55bf6&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

Machine Politics in the Digital Age
By MELANIE WARNER

Published: November 9, 2003


N mid-August, Walden W. O'Dell, the chief executive of Diebold Inc., sat down at his computer to compose a letter inviting 100 wealthy and politically inclined friends to a Republican Party fund-raiser, to be held at his home in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. "I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year," wrote Mr. O'Dell, whose company is based in Canton, Ohio.


Snip...

Making matters worse, the software code for the machines was discovered in January by a Seattle-area writer on a publicly accessible Internet site. That the code was unprotected constitutes a significant security lapse by Diebold, said Aviel D. Rubin, an associate professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins, co-author of the study of the code.

Snip...

About 15,000 internal Diebold e-mail messages also found their way to the Internet. Some referred to software patches installed on Diebold machines days before elections. Others indicated that the Microsoft Access database used in Diebold's tabulation servers was not protected by passwords. Diebold, which says passwords are now installed on machines, is threatening legal action against anyone who posts the files or links to them, contending that the e-mail is copyrighted.

& MORE

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/09/business/yourmoney/09vote.html?ex=1068958800&en=aa83991f48b55bf6&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

[ramblin_dave]

1. Seattle-area writer?

Wonder who that could be?

[LittleApple81]

2. We should send beaucoup messages to Bev Harris... if we ever

get this BBV issue tackled and dealt with, it is HER doing. I don't know what happened to get her banned here, but being banned in DU does not diminish her achievements at all.
She has all my respect and admiration.

[althecat]

3. Little Apple.... Please send your views on this to Skinner.

I know Bev wants to get back on here... be ever so polite. This is not a democracy :)

[leftchick]

4. This is Fantastic , Al! Thanks...

I just volunteered in our local Democratic Party organization. My first meeting is Monday and I will be bringing this along with a lot of other BBV information.

:bounce:

[TolstoyAndy]

5. NPR talking about it too

First segment on "This American Life" this weekend.

[DrBB]

8. Yeah--I caught the tail end of it today

...with Mercuri as the chief informant. Great stuff. Basic message: paper works; computers are NOT the solution to every problem.

"To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail."

[peacetalksforall]

6. Can someone tell me what happened to Bev Harris and DU?

I missed it all. Thanks.

[Philosophy]

7. What kind of passwords I wonder?

"Others indicated that the Microsoft Access database used in Diebold's tabulation servers was not protected by passwords. Diebold, which says passwords are now installed on machines..."

There are two different kind of password security you can use for Access databases. One is just a single password that gives you complete access to the entire database that is used in all MS Office products. It is easily crackable - in fact there is a little publicly downloadable utility available that will crack it if you forget your password. Access also has a very secure user-level security that takes a little more know-how to use that can be combined with encryption to make it virtually uncrackable.

Given the programmers' track record of sloppiness and cutting corners, I wonder which one they used?

[RedEagle]

9. More hits

Kick!