Hacker gets blessing to hole democracy

Found on The Inquirer on Thursday, 24 November 2005
Browse Software

A finnish computer hacker is going to break into the Diebold Election System with the blessing of California's secretary of state.

Secretary of State Bruce McPherson has already refused Diebold certification after 20 percent of the new, voting machines malfunctioned during a July test, however now he wants to make sure that the machines are secure.

Last May, Hursti tested a Diebold system and changed the voting results. He also inserted a new program that flashed the message "Are we having fun yet?" on the computer screens.

He confirmed that if someone has the same access as an employee of the election office it was possible to enter the computer, alter election results and exit the system without any physical record. Now McPherson wants to see this test for himself.

Hursti will use a randomly selected voting machine from one of the 17 counties that use a Diebold system. Diebold wanted it to use a machine that it provided, however that idea was vetoed by the state, we assume because it didn't want a machine designed to cheat the test.

It's amazing that Diebold is still in business. When dealing with something important as votes, they should be required to make their systems as secure as possible. But when you remember that the CEO backs Dubya and said the he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president ", then you don't have to wonder that much anymore.