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In the run-up to the USA's upcoming national election event:
The FBI has uncovered evidence that foreign hackers penetrated two state election databases in recent weeks, prompting the bureau to warn election officials across the country to take new steps to enhance the security of their computer systems, according to federal and state law enforcement officials.
[...] [three days later] the FBI Cyber Division issued a potentially more disturbing warning, entitled "Targeting Activity Against State Board of Election Systems." The alert, labeled as restricted for "NEED TO KNOW recipients," disclosed that the bureau was investigating cyberintrusions against two state election websites this summer, including one that resulted in the "exfiltration," or theft, of voter registration data. "It was an eye opener," one senior law enforcement official said of the bureau's discovery of the intrusions. "We believe it's kind of serious, and we're investigating."
[...] six states and parts of four others (including large swaths of Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state in this year's race) are more vulnerable because they rely on paperless touchscreen voting, known as DREs or Direct-Recording Electronic voting machines, for which there are no paper ballot backups.
[...] the FBI warning seems likely to ramp up pressure on the Department of Homeland Security to formally designate state election systems as part of the nation's "critical infrastructure" requiring federal protection — a key step, advocates say, in forestalling the possibility of foreign government meddling in the election.
The reason designating election systems "critical infrastructure" requiring federal protection is important is that designation means the Feds devote resources to protecting it and threaten a heightened response to entities messing with "critical infrastructure."
[Continues...]
Related / more info:
- Cyber Storm V: Testing the Nation's Ability to Respond to Significant Cyber Incidents
- White House releases a cyber deterrence policy outlining how the United States will respond to cyber attacks from malicious actors.
- Text of the Cyber Deterrence Policy (PDF)
Have you considered the impact on the US if the election for president is disrupted, with the winner unknown because the results are dependent upon the votes in one or more of the states with electronic-only voting systems? Some people might find it beneficial if the US election is disrupted or contested.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 30 2016, @03:08AM
> You could have a system where each voter gets a receipt with a code, and can verify their vote anonymously
No you could not. If you have a receipt with a code then you can be coerced into giving that receipt with a code to someone else and now your ballot is no longer anonymous.
Seriously this is an immutable law, you can not be simultaneously anonymous and verifiable. Any who thinks otherwise just has not thought it through.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 30 2016, @05:15AM
Since I have to show ID and prove who I am to be able to vote, I don't expect my vote to be anonymous in the first place.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Tuesday August 30 2016, @07:12AM
has this law been proven?
I would be interested in reading such a proof.
It is my understanding that it has only been postulated that e-votes can not be both anonymous and verifiable.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Tuesday August 30 2016, @12:18PM
Regardless of the voting system you could be coerced into revealing your vote.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Tuesday August 30 2016, @01:51PM
Once you've dropped the filled in ballot paper through the slot, you can say you voted whatever way they want. They can't check, and even if you wanted to, you couldn't prove which way you voted.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.