California Testers Find Flaws In Voting Machines

quanticle writes "According to Ars Technica, California testers have discovered severe flaws in the ES&S voting machines. The paper seals were easily bypassed, and the lock could be picked with a "common office implement". After cracking the physical security of the device, the testers found it simple to reconfigure the BIOS to boot off external media. After booting a version of Linux, they found that critical system files were stored in plain text. They also found that the election management system that initializes the voting machines used unencrypted protocols to transmit the initialization data to the voting machines, allowing for a man-in-the-middle attack. Altogether, it is a troubling report for a company already in hot water for selling uncertified equipment to counties."

"common office implement"

[jolyonr]

Do they really think this sounds more impressive than "paperclip" ?

Jolyon

This begs the question

[oliverthered]

Does it make paperclips and Linux illegal in Germany now that they can be used for hacking?

Re:WhiteHat Voting

[jacekm]

HB #2 pencile has a serious flaw. It is suspectible to the man in the middle with cheap eraser.

JAM

common office implement

[Threni]

What, a service pack?

Translation...

[daninspokane]

"Common office implement" AKA: Paper clip and some whiteout I hear Richard Dean Anderson was on the testing team, so really, that's their own fault.

Re:ATM Machines

[sdpuppy]

Perhaps Diebold should go back to what they do best...

... manufacture daisy wheel printers.

:-)

Re:"common office implement"

[oahazmatt]

Do they really think this sounds more impressive than "paperclip" ?

Because it's obligatory:

"Hi! Looks like you're trying to right the election! Need some help?"

Re:WhiteHat Voting

[bvimo]

In the UK we don't use rubbers, we start again with a virgin sheet.