Republican Owned Diebold E-Voting Flaws Could Compromise Elections

Diebold E-Voting Flaws Could Compromise Elections

Florida isn't crazy about optical scan voting devices slated to be
used in the state's presidential primary elections next year.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007 5:00 PM PDT

Optical scan voting devices slated to be used presidential primary
elections in Florida next year are significantly flawed and could
compromise the outcome of the contest, according to a report released
Tuesday by Secretary of State Kurt Browning.

The report was compiled by researchers at Florida State University,
who were hired by Browning in May to conduct an independent review of
optical scan and touch-screen devices made by Diebold Election
Systems, one of the largest voting machine vendors in the country and
a major supplier of gear to Florida.

The report cited a number of security gaps in the Diebold systems.

For example, it said, Diebold's Accuvote OS optical scan machine is
vulnerable to vote manipulation by illicitly inserting a pre-
programmed memory card into a voting terminal. The card, the report
said, could be coded to flip votes from one candidate to another
without detection.

In a letter sent to Diebold Election Systems President David Byrd on
Tuesday, Browning said that the vulnerabilities cited in the report
must be fixed by Aug. 17 or that the vendor's certification would be
denied.

Browning cited a number of changes that must be made, including
security upgrades that would prevent the surreptitious insertion of
pre-loaded memory cards.

This was a fairly routine test of a new version of the optical scan
system, said Mark Radke, director of marketing at Allen, Texas-based
Diebold.

This is a way for the state to proactively catch and address any
security issues. "We have received the summary," Radke said. "There
are a few items to tighten as far as security goes, and those are
being developed. These are minor changes to the system and we expect
those changes to be submitted by the August deadline."

A spokesman for Browning stated on Wednesday that Diebold had made
assurances that the flaws would be addressed and he was confident the
vendor would in fact do so. And, as some of the problems have to do
with voting processes, not technology, Browning would issue special
advisories to election officials to address those procedural gaps.

Similarly, Browning intends to have the Florida State researchers
conduct similar studies of machines from other voting system vendors,
including Elections Systems & Software. "We expect all voting systems
to be certified and complete by the end of the year," he said.

.

Relevant Pages

  • One Florida county tosses Diebold machines that are being hacked
    ... He has requested funds to replace the Diebold system from the ... Black Box Voting: http://www.blackboxvoting.org ... Leon County Election Supervisor Ion Sancho: ... 2005 Diebold Elections Systems Research and Development chief ...
    (alt.politics)
  • Re: Diebold Source Code Leaked Once Again
    ... Who knows what Diebold is doing with it? ... The source code for all voting machines NEEDS to be freely available, ... And how can being able to look inside the voting machine in any way be ... work with elections. ...
    (comp.dcom.telecom)
  • Re: [Full-disclosure] Scientists Call Diebold Security Flaw Worst Ever
    ... Computer scientists say a security hole recently found in Diebold ... a voting system. ... Pennsylvania elections officials in a May 1 memo but said the ...
    (Full-Disclosure)
  • Sloppy or Worse: Beta Testing Democracy
    ... State says Diebold failures in massive mock election could translate ... California has rejected Diebold's flagship electronic voting machine ... If the machines had been used in an election, ... elections officials and voter advocates said Thursday. ...
    (rec.radio.shortwave)
  • Diebold Seeks to Dump its Election Business
    ... Diebold weighs strategy for voting unit ... Diebold Inc. saw great potential in the modernization of elections ... Though Diebold Election Systems -- the company's smallest business ...
    (comp.dcom.telecom)
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