Your computer can be hacked. Your cell phone can be hacked. Why would you believe that your voting machine can’t be hacked? SF Chronicle:

State-sanctioned teams of computer hackers were able to break through the security of virtually every model of California’s voting machines and change results or take control of some of the systems’ electronic functions, according to a University of California study released Friday.

The researchers “were able to bypass physical and software security in every machine they tested,” said Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who authorized the “top to bottom review” of every voting system certified by the state.

Neither Bowen nor the investigators were willing to say exactly how vulnerable California elections are to computer hackers, especially because the team of computer experts from the UC system had top-of-the-line security information plus more time and better access to the voting machines than would-be vote thieves likely would have.

“All information available to the secretary of state was made available to the testers,” including operating manuals, software and source codes usually kept secret by the voting machine companies, Matt Bishop, UC Davis computer science professor who led the “red team” hacking effort, said in his summary of the results.

The review included voting equipment from every company approved for use in the state, including Sequoia, whose systems are used in Alameda, Napa and Santa Clara counties; Hart InterCivic, used in San Mateo and Sonoma Counties; and Diebold, used in Marin County…

Bishop, however, said he was surprised by the weakness of the security measures, both physical and electronic, protecting the voting systems. His team of hackers found ways to get into the systems not only through the high-tech equipment in election headquarters but also through the machines in the polling places.

If the testers had had more time, they would have found more flaws, he added. “The vendors appeared to have designed systems that were not high assurance (of security),” said Bishop, a recognized expert on computer security. “The security seems like it was added on.”

Paper ballots and hanging chads are far to be preferred over this unaccountable brave new world. The crooks would, at least, have heavy boxes to carry, huge amounts of paper to falsify. They can’t just aim a few electrons in the wrong direction.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2007 at 2:00 am and is filed under Democrats, General, Republicans, Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.