Friday, January 30, 2004
Diebold machines need work
Electronic voting machines from Diebold Inc. have computer security and physical security problems that might allow corrupt insiders or determined outsiders to disrupt or even steal an election, according to a report presented yesterday to Maryland state legislators.
But authors of the report — which described the first official effort to hack Diebold voting systems under election conditions — were careful to say the machines, if not hacked, count votes correctly. And they said the vulnerabilities the exercise found could be addressed in a preliminary way in time for the state's primaries in March.
"I don't want to beat people up," said Michael Wertheimer, a security expert for RABA Technologies in Columbia, Md., who oversaw the exercise. "I want to get an election that people can feel good about."
Further steps could be taken to ensure a safe general election in November, the report concluded. But ultimately, it said, Diebold election software had to be rewritten to meet industry security standards and limited use of paper receipts to verify votes would be needed.
More.
posted by chris at 1:11 PM
------------------
|
