WorldNetDaily: Teams of computer hackers sanctioned by California Secretary of State Debra Bowen were able to hack without difficulty into various vendors' touch-screen voting machines during a "top to bottom review" of every system certified by the state, according to a University of California study released yesterday. The report concluded the machines could be manipulated using "tools that can be found in a typical office and could be executed by a very low-skilled attacker." Voting equipment for the timed test included devices from Sequoia, Hart InterCivic and Diebold. Election Systems and Software failed to submit its equipment for the review prior to the deadline, but Bowen said she has "the legal authority to impose any condition" on use of the vendor's equipment in the state. . . . As WND reported in January, a hacker, using a photograph of keys to a Diebold touch-screen voting system available on the company's website, successfully duplicated two that were capable of opening the electronic balloting device now used in many states for elections. Concerns over the security of Sequoia's voting systems increased last October when it was revealed the federal government was investigating whether anti-American Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez controlled Smartmatic, owner of Sequoia Voting Systems, the company that operates electronic voting machines in 17 states. UC researchers in the California test "were able to bypass physical and software security in every machine they tested," said Bowen. . . . However, Seiler, a former Diebold sales representative, said the study did not go far enough and insisted researchers did not look for malicious code already embedded in the software that could be used to change votes. Ken Karan, co-founder of Psephos, a voting-rights advocate group long critical of San Francisco's use of Diebold's equipment, felt vindicated with the new findings.
"It appears to me the veneer of security has evaporated," he said. Despite the review being conducted under favorable conditions for the hacker teams, Bishop said he was surprised by the voting systems' weak physical and electronic security measures. His researchers were able to find their way into the systems through high-tech equipment in election headquarters and through the machines in the polling places. "The vendors appeared to have designed systems that were not high assurance (of security)," he told the Chronicle. "The security seems like it was added on." . . . [Read More] Editor Comment: Thanks for the lead on this story from RicGator's Blog
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