WORST EVER SECURITY FLAW FOUND IN DIEBOLD TS VOTING MACHINE

[meldroc]

Open Voting Foundation Press Release

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA -- “This may be the worst security flaw we have seen in touch screen voting machines,” says Open Voting Foundation president, Alan Dechert. Upon examining the inner workings of one of the most popular paperless touch screen voting machines used in public elections in the United States, it has been determined that with the flip of a single switch inside, the machine can behave in a completely different manner compared to the tested and certified version.

“Diebold has made the testing and certification process practically irrelevant,” according to Dechert. “If you have access to these machines and you want to rig an election, anything is possible with the Diebold TS -- and it could be done without leaving a trace. All you need is a screwdriver.” This model does not produce a voter verified paper trail so there is no way to check if the voter’s choices are accurately reflected in the tabulation.

In a nutshell, you can insert a flash memory module with any arbitrary binary code on it, and flip a couple DIP switches, and cause the machine to boot from your flash module instead of the certified binary image on the machine's EEPROM. Pictures of the Diebold machine are linked in the press release, showing exactly how it's done...

[LiberalVoice]

1. K&R

[El Fuego]

2. Thanks for posting this.

:kick:

[McCamy Taylor]

3. And the SOS in California is a GOP appointed by Arnold who kisses

the you know what of Diebold. So you know that these machines have already been certified as A-Ok in violation of California Law. Look for Florida and Ohio to happen in Calfornia this fall.

http://www.grandtheftelectionohio.com/060102.htm

[truthisfreedom]

4. zeez ahh sühh-teefied mahh-sheens. how dayahh you open zem!

[Rambis]

5. Kick

:kick:

[Tanuki]

6. It becomes more clear every day

what Diebold CEO and big-time GOP fund-raiser Wally O'Dell meant when he pledged his commitment "to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President."

K&R

[heliarc]

7. Now the terrorists know how to get Kerry elected!

These people should be locked up in Guantanamo post haste!!! (Sarcasm)

[aquart]

8. Uh, we knew this, right?

Security "flaw," my arse. This is how the machine was intended to work.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

9. The 2nd third-time Prez ever.

:loveya:

[maseman]

11. Well OK now liberal media...RUN WITH IT!

I wish there was some trut to the liberal media myth so they would actually get this most important story into the fucking newspapers and network news.

How about a 60 Minutes segment? How about a long segment on PBS Lehrer or something? Come on people wake the hell up.

[stop the bleeding]

10. FUCKING MORANS

moral majority my ass


Does everyone in JESUSLAND and DUMBFUCKASTAN finally get the message???


I am taking crazy pills here

[JanusAscending]

12. Welcome to DU !!

Kicked and Rec. !!

[Journeyman]

13. This info's very weak. Has this been reported anywhere else? . . .

Kind of hard to give credibility to a site where the "About Us" page is "(under construction)" and the only contact info is a snailmail address that doesn't register on any internet map I use. In addition, SPI, in the addendum to their agenda item in which they considered membership for OVF, seems to cast doubt on OVFs stated objective (www.spi-inc.org/secretary/agenda/2006-06-20.html).

On the limited info that can be learned about this site I won't give it much credibility until it's independently verified.

[OnTheOtherHand]

14. the point about stated objective seems off-target

One can debate the merits of developing free voting software, but how would that affect our assessment of an analysis of hardware vulnerabilities?!

The point about the snailmail address is just weird. Try: http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=9560+Windrose+Lane,+95746 -- worked for me.

Sure, nothing wrong with counting to 10. Is there anything in particular that strikes you as suspect about the content here?

[AntiFascist]

15. I recall seeing a report that mentioned a vulnerability...

where one could "insert his own code into the running firmware of the machine." This is in reference to the Diebold AV-OS (optical scan) systems. "These bugs would have no effect at all in the absence of deliberate tampering, and would not be discovered by any amount of functionality testing; but they could allow an attacker to COMPLETELY control the behavior of the AV-OS.

This report is found at a California government website, specifically that of the Secretary of State:

http://www.ss.ca.gov/elections/voting_systems/security_analysis_of_the_diebold_accubasic_interpreter.pdf

I would not be surprised at all to learn that similar vulnerabilities exist in the Touch Screen (TS) systems.

[meldroc]

16. The photographs were very convincing.

They showed very clearly the switches in question, the flash memory slot, and even instructions printed on the motherboard showing how to make the switch.