The U.S. agency overseeing elections has “quietly weakened a key element of proposed security standards…” reports the Associated Press, “raising concern among voting-integrity experts that many such systems will remain vulnerable to hacking.” The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is poised to approve its first new security standards in 15 years after an arduous process involving multiple technical and elections community bodies…
Tag: Voting Machines
FireEye, a Top Cybersecurity Firm, Says It Was Hacked By a Nation-State
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times : For years, the cybersecurity firm FireEye has been the first call for government agencies and companies around the world who have been hacked by the most sophisticated attackers, or fear they might be. Now it looks like the hackers — in this case, evidence points to Russia’s intelligence agencies…
Trump Fires Election Security Director Who Corrected Voter Fraud Disinformation
phalse phace shares a report from NPR: Christopher Krebs, the Department of Homeland Security director who had spearheaded a campaign to counter rumors about voter fraud, has been fired, President Trump tweeted on Tuesday. Trump, in two misleading tweets about the security of the U.S. election, said Krebs’ termination was “effective immediately.” The CISA campaign, led by Krebs, was originally intended…
Is Blockchain ‘the Amazing Solution for Almost Nothing’?
Long-time Slashdot reader leathered shares an investigation from the Correspondent about blockchain — and ” what’s so terribly revolutionary about it? What problem does it solve…? I can tell you upfront, it’s a bizarre journey to nowhere. I’ve never seen so much incomprehensible jargon to describe so little… And I’ve never seen so many people searching so hard for a problem…
US Now Offers $10 Million Reward For Election Interference Tips
The US Department of State announced today rewards of up to $10 million for any information leading to the identification of any person who works with or for a foreign government for the purpose of interfering with US elections through “illegal cyber activities.” From a report: This includes attacks against US election officials, US election infrastructure, voting machines, but also candidates…
This Could Be Microsoft’s Most Important Product in 2020. If it Works
Alfred Ng, writing for CNET: Building 83 doesn’t stand out on Microsoft’s massive Redmond, Washington, headquarters. But last week, the nameless structure hosted what might be the software giant’s most important product of 2020. Tucked away in the corner of a meeting room, a sign reading “ElectionGuard” identifies a touchscreen that asks people to cast their votes. An Xbox adaptive controller…
Researchers Easily Breached Voting Machines For the 2020 Election
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Engadget: The voting machines that the U.S. will use in the 2020 election are still vulnerable to hacks. A group of ethical hackers tested a bunch of those voting machines and election systems (most of which they bought on eBay). They were able to crack into every machine, The Washington Post reports. Their tests…
Lawmakers, Intelligence Officials Welcomed To This Year’s Def Con Conference
“Multiple members of congress, dozens of congressional staffers and members of the intelligence community are gathering in Las Vegas this weekend to rub shoulders with hackers at Def Con,” reports CNN: Washington’s embrace of the hacking community comes amid heightened awareness of the threat of cyber attacks in the wake of the 2016 US presidential election and lawmakers realizing they need…
Microsoft Warns of Political Cyberattacks, Announces Free Vote-Verification Software
“Microsoft on Wednesday announced that it would give away software designed to improve the security of American voting machines,” reports NBC News. Microsoft also said its AccountGuard service has already spotted 781 cyberattacks by foreign adversaries targeting political organizations — 95% of which were located in the U.S. The company said it was rolling out the free, open-source software product called…
The ‘Vast Majority’ of America’s Voting Machines Use Windows 7 or Older Systems
Many of America’s voting machines are depending on an outdated Microsoft operating system, reports the Associated Press. “The vast majority of 10,000 election jurisdictions nationwide use Windows 7 or an older operating system to create ballots, program voting machines, tally votes and report counts.” That’s significant because Windows 7 reaches its “end of life” on Jan. 14, meaning Microsoft stops providing…