U.S. presidential election can be hacked (Network World)

[swag]

By Robert McMillan , IDG News Service , 04/11/2008

This year, the U.S. will pick a new president using electronic voting machines that can be hacked, security experts said Thursday at the RSA Conference in San Francisco.

As the November election approaches, the question before officials is not how to fix known bugs in their e-voting systems, but rather, how best to check them for fraud, said David Wagner, an associate professor with the University of California, Berkeley's computer science department.

Wagner was part of the team that audited California's voting systems during the state's review of electronic voting, and the problems his team found affect counties across the U.S. "The three systems we looked at are three of the most widely used around the nation," he said during an e-voting panel discussion at the show. "They're going to be using them in the 2008 elections; they're still going to have the same vulnerabilities we found."

With images of Florida's laborious 2000 presidential recount in their minds, county officials have spent billions over the past eight years on electronic voting systems. These systems are supposed to take the guesswork out of vote-counting. The problem is that they are insecure, and now states are being forced to make do with buggy equipment, panel members agreed. "We have spent billions of dollars on equipment," Wagner said. "We don't have another several billion dollars."

The California audit examined systems from Diebold Elections Systems, Hart InterCivic and Sequoia Voting Systems, ultimately permitting their use in 2008, but only under certain conditions. In testing, Wagner and his team found that they could introduce a computer virus to any of the three systems, which would then spread throughout the county and ultimately skew the vote count.

. . . more

[madokie]

1. all I can say is they better find some more billions of dollars

if we have another stolen election my optimism that we'll pull through all this will be gone

[lonestarnot]

2. If we have another stolen election, they will be fighting us here so they don't have to fight us

over there!

[madokie]

3. you got that right, we'll be back to back or shoulder to shoulder but we'll be as one

all of us. I've been fortunate to have lived a good life and if it takes my giving it up to help ensure that our grandkids will still have a democracy when I'm gone then I'll be the first to do it. bushco ain't seen shit yet and when they do they will not be liking what they'll be seeing. The American people are waking up and the ones who are are not liking what they're seeing. Thats what it sounds to me like when I'm out and about anyway.

[lonestarnot]

4. shoulder to shoulder

:patriot:

[TriggerGal]

5. You've just realized this NOW?

Where were you for the 2000 election? the 2004 election?

Do you honestly believe that they weren't hacked?

[swag]

6. Gee, I was getting so impatient waiting for the know-it-all post.

Thanks for not letting me down.

In case you didn't notice, I was posting an article from a magazine. The article was published today. I posted the article because it describes even more factual evidence of what some of us (apparently even you) have known for a long time.

[TriggerGal]

8. Yes, I realized

that it was an article - and that it was published today.

But ... it certainly is not news to anyone.

As such ... why post?
Do you honestly believe there is anyone who cares that doesn't already know about it?

[swag]

9. Uh,

yeah.

[swag]

7. Gee, I guess a link might help.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/041108-rsa-us-presidential-election-can.html?netht=ts_041108&nladname=041108dailynewspmal

[OneBlueSky]

10. "CAN be hacked" should read "WILL be hacked" . . .

look, it happened in 2000, it happened in 2004, and there's no reason whatsoever to believe that it won't happen in 2008 . . . they have the means, they have the motive, and they have the opportunity . . . so what's to stop them? . . . conscience? . . . respect for the law? . . . fear of getting caught? . . . none of that stopped them in the past two elections, and none of it will stop them now . . .

that's why all this talk of who would be the stronger candidate against McCain is just so much drivel . . . it won't matter one whit whether it's Clinton or Obama . . . either way, the election will be close enough to allow the Republican tablulators to work their magic in a few key precincts in a few key states -- just enough to ensure another Republican victory . . .

and there's not a damned thing we can do about it . . .