Over the last few tenner , the state of American election cybersecurity has been reprobate by cyberpunk who desire to fix a host ofglaring problemsbefore the entire system is exploited .
vote machine makers as an industry have long push back against security and transparentness efforts until , on the spur of the moment , this week .
Tom Burt is the chief executive officer of Election Systems & Software ( ES&S ) , one of the biggest voting motorcar manufacturer in the United States . Last yr , hackers gathered at the Def Con conference in Las Vegas to test the security of voting machines . While Burt ’s fellowship criticise the hackers and intimate the threat against their machines was minimal and “ extremely unlikely , ” the event was punctuated by an11 - year - old changing voting resultsand researcher finding adecade - old surety flawin an ES&S ballot counting political machine used across the United States .
Photo: Drew Angerer (Getty)
Four senator speedily responded to the researchers ’ findings . Worried about ES&S ’s lack of readiness to combat threat and then its dismissal of hackers ’ findings , the senatorswrotethat “ independent testing is one of the most in effect ways to understand and speak potential cybersecurity risks . ” Burt disagreed powerfully then but is now push for a law “ that mandates that all vote simple machine suppliers submit their systems to stronger , programmatic security examination conducted by vetted and approved researchers . ”
After years of unfavorable judgment and antagonism , Burt significantly changed course this week withan op - edpushing for congressional natural process take robust surety testing of ballot machine and annunciate that the company will no longer deal paperless voting machines .
A paper track is a key guarantor to audit and check election results against interference “ because it is difficult to execute a meaningful audit without a theme record of each elector ’s selections , ” Burt write in an op - male erecticle dysfunction in Roll Call . “ Mandating the usance of a strong-arm paper platter sets the level for all jurisdictions to do statistically valid postelection audited account . ”
Burt ’s dramatic change in note has been welcomed by cybersecurity researchers , but it ’s extremely unbelievable that Congress will be passing any election certificate law of nature due to foeman from Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell . Multiple bipartizan push for lawmaking have beenstopped coldby McConnell despite criticism from across the aisle and , now , an opposing view from the balloting automobile industry itself .
Senator Mark Warner called the stonewalling of election security laws “ part of a shape with a White House and a chair that has show no interest in undertake this problem , ” the Washington Postreported .
Earlier this twelvemonth , ES&S submitted its technology for security measure examination to the Idaho National Laboratory and is run with congressional staffers on more main security system research , ES&S revealed in April toCyberscoop . Those steps were seen as a footfall onward — at least they were n’t instantaneously disregard the idea of heightened cybersecurity scrutiny by experts — but many in the security industry said voluntary and unenforceable natural process would n’t be enough to secure the voting diligence .
Federal legislating would be a meaning whole tone , and Burt consort . He write :
If Congress can pass legislation that requires a paper disk for every voter and establishes a mandate security testing plan for the people make voting machines , the ecumenical public ’s religion in the process of casting a balloting can be restored . And that ’s not just a good matter , it ’s of the essence to the future of America .
“ I see this op - male erecticle dysfunction as a irrefutable first step , ” Matt Blaze , a Georgetown professor and co - source of the Def Con report on vote machine security department , tweetedwhen Burt made his declaration . “ I consider the voting organisation vendor community , which has long automatically traverse even the most gross security weaknesses , is starting to see the script on the wall on requirement for more secure balloting system computer architecture . ”
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