• Voting Machines are the new idiot button
    43 replies, posted
[QUOTE]The Vulnerability Assessment Team at Argonne National Laboratory looks at a wide variety of security devices-- locks, seals, tags, access control, biometrics, cargo security, nuclear safeguards--to try to find vulnerabilities and locate potential fixes. Unfortunately, there’s not much funding available in this country to study election security. So we did this as a Saturday afternoon type of project. It’s called a man-in-the-middle attack. It’s a classic attack on security devices. You implant a microprocessor or some other electronic device into the voting machine, and that lets you control the voting and turn cheating on and off. We’re basically interfering with transmitting the voter’s intent. We used a logic analyzer. Digital communication is a series of zeros and ones. The voltage goes higher, the voltage goes lower. A logic analyzer collects the oscillating voltages between high and low and then will display for you the digital data in a variety of formats. But there all kinds of way to do it. You can use a logic analyzer, you can use a microprocessor, you can use a computer--basically, anything that lets you see the information that’s being exchanged and then lets you know what to do to mimic the information. I’ve been to high school science fairs where the kids had more sophisticated microprocessor projects.So we listened to the communications going on between the voter, who in the case of one machine is pushing buttons (it’s a push-button voting machine) and in the other is touching things on a touchscreen. Then we listened to the communication going on between the smarts of the machine and the voter. Let’s say I’m trying to make Jones win the election, and you might vote for Smith. Then my microprocessor is going to tell the smarts of the machine to vote for Jones if you try to vote for Smith. But if you’re voting for Jones anyway, I’m not going to tamper with the communications. Sometimes you block communications, sometimes you tamper with information, sometimes you just look at it and let it pass on through. That’s essentially the idea. Figure out the communications going on, then tamper as needed, including with the information being sent back to the voter. We can do this because most voting machines, as far as I can tell, are not encrypted. It’s just open standard format communication. So it’s pretty easy to figure out information being exchanged. Anyone who does digital electronics--a hobbyist or an electronics fan--could figure this out. The device we implanted in the touchscreen machine was essentially $10 retail. If you wanted a deluxe version where you can control it remotely from a half a mile away, it’d cost $26 retail. It’s not big bucks. RadioShack would have this stuff. I’ve been to high school science fairs where the kids had more sophisticated microprocessor projects than the ones needed to rig these machines. Because there’s no funding for this type of security-testing, we relied on people who buy used machines on eBay [in this case the touchscreen Diebold Accuvote TS Electronic Voting Machine and the push-button Sequoia AVC Advantage Voting Machine]. Both of the machines were a little out-of-date, and we didn’t have user manuals and circuit diagrams. But we figured things out, in the case of the push-button machine, in under two hours. Within 2 hours we had a viable attack. The other machine took a little longer because we didn’t fully understand how touchscreen displays worked. So we had learning time there. But that was just a couple days. It’s like a magic trick. You’ve got to practice a lot. If we practiced a lot, or even better, if we got someone really good with his hands who practiced a lot for two weeks, we’re looking at 15 seconds to 60 seconds go execute these attacks. I want to move it to the point where grandma can’t hack elections. We’re really not there.The attacks require physical access. This is easy for insiders, who program the machines for an election or install them. And we would argue it’s typically not that hard for outsiders. A lot of voting machines are sitting around in the church basement, the elementary school gymnasium or hallway, unattended for a week or two before the election. Usually they have really cheap cabinet locks anyone can pick; sometimes they don’t even have locks on them. No one signs for the machines when they show up. No one’s responsible for watching them. Seals on them aren’t much different from the anti-tamper packaging found on food and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. Think about tampering with a food or drug product: You think that’s challenging? It’s really not. And a lot of our election judges are little old ladies who are retired, and God bless them, they’re what makes the elections work, but they’re not necessarily a fabulous workforce for detecting subtle security attacks. Give people checking the seals a little training as to what to look for, and now they have a chance to detect a reasonably sophisticated attack. Do good background checks on insiders, and that insider threat would be much less of a concern. Overall, there’s a lack of a good security culture. We can have flawed voting machines, but if we have a good security culture, we can still have good elections. On the other hand, we can have fabulous machines, but if the security culture is inadequate, it doesn’t really matter. We’ve really got to look at a bigger picture. Our view is: It’s always going to be hard to stop James Bond. But I want to move it to the point where grandma can’t hack elections, and we’re really not there.[/QUOTE] [IMG]http://travistye.com/misc/dontvote.gif[/IMG]
voting machines have always been very insecure afaik. I read about these sort of exploits in the 2004 elections. Shame we haven't progressed far since.
Interesting read
[video=youtube;1aBaX9GPSaQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aBaX9GPSaQ&feature=player_embedded[/video]
Paper ballots are the way to go. May be more time consuming and tedious, but there's a whole 3 months until the inauguration, I'm sure we can wait a few days to count up.
[QUOTE=SaltyWaters;38340650][IMG]http://travistye.com/misc/dontvote.gif[/IMG][/QUOTE] the twist at the end of the comic made me laugh
[video=youtube;QdpGd74DrBM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdpGd74DrBM[/video]
[QUOTE=TheTailor25;38341541][video=youtube;QdpGd74DrBM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdpGd74DrBM[/video][/QUOTE] who the fuck is jill stein and gary johnson
Is it just me or is an electronic voting machine just the thing you need to manipulate votes?
[QUOTE=Desuh;38341707]who the fuck is jill stein and gary johnson[/QUOTE] They're presidential candidates, obviously.
[QUOTE=TheTailor25;38341541][video=youtube;QdpGd74DrBM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdpGd74DrBM[/video][/QUOTE] If they're able to do that, then couldn't someone make it highlight Obama but register it as a count for Romney once its submitted? I don't know anything about those machines though, I'm only assuming that if what happened in the video was done by someone purposely, and not a glitch.
[QUOTE=Ninja Duck;38341741]Can't anyone fuck around with those anyways? If they're able to do that, then someone could make it highlight Obama but register it as a count for Romney once its submitted. I don't know anything about those machines though, I'm only assuming that if what happened in the video was done by someone purposely, and not a glitch.[/QUOTE] I think it's mostly related to the fact that the machine costs $10 - the touch screen is probably inaccurate as SHIT.
[QUOTE=Stopper;38341756]I think it's mostly related to the fact that the machine costs $10 - the touch screen is probably inaccurate as SHIT.[/QUOTE] If you read the description on the video (which is hard because for some reason you cant pop the video out, garry fix it!!) it suggests the guy tried to click below it to get Obama but got the guy below. [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdpGd74DrBM[/url] Read the description, quite interesting if true.
[QUOTE=Ninja Duck;38341741]If they're able to do that, then couldn't someone make it highlight Obama but register it as a count for Romney once its submitted? I don't know anything about those machines though, I'm only assuming that if what happened in the video was done by someone purposely, and not a glitch.[/QUOTE] Anyone who has ever used one of those big thick touch screens like on ATMs and such should know that they're often innacurate. If the guy moved his finger down half an inch it would hit Obama.
[QUOTE=Jsm;38341776]If you read the description on the video (which is hard because for some reason you cant pop the video out, garry fix it!!) it suggests the guy tried to click below it to get Obama but got the guy below. [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdpGd74DrBM[/url] Read the description, quite interesting if true.[/QUOTE] That's why I'm in favor of paper ballots. I really hope something like this won't change the outcome of the election...
[QUOTE=Jsm;38341776]If you read the description on the video (which is hard because for some reason you cant pop the video out, garry fix it!!) it suggests the guy tried to click below it to get Obama but got the guy below. [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdpGd74DrBM[/url] Read the description, quite interesting if true.[/QUOTE] I would still be hard pressed to believe there is any rigging though. Who would be stupid enough to make it obvious to the voter that the machine selected the wrong person?
[QUOTE=Demache;38341837]I would still be hard pressed to believe there is any rigging though. Who would be stupid enough to make it obvious to the voter that the machine selected the wrong person?[/QUOTE] I agree, if I was going to rig an election using dodgy voting machines I would make them look like they are working correctly.
if the election is rigged we're going to find out and there's going to be controversy i don't think anyone can expect to rig an election and get away with it
[QUOTE=Stopper;38341831]That's why I'm in favor of paper ballots. I really hope something like this won't change the outcome of the election...[/QUOTE] Paper ballots can be just as shit, then you can manipulate ballots via stuffing etc.
[QUOTE=laserguided;38342068]Paper ballots can be just as shit, then you can manipulate ballots via stuffing etc.[/QUOTE] Or throwing them away.
[QUOTE=laserguided;38342068]Paper ballots can be just as shit, then you can manipulate ballots via stuffing etc.[/QUOTE] Those leave a paper trail. It's hard to track how many votes are altered via a borked voting machine and therefore hard to prove fraud ever happened.
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;38341721]They're presidential candidates, obviously.[/QUOTE] I know but it's the first time I hear of them.
[QUOTE=Protocol7;38341956]if the election is rigged we're going to find out and there's going to be controversy i don't think anyone can expect to rig an election and get away with it[/QUOTE] Russia seems to be managing it okay.
[QUOTE=Desuh;38342495]I know but it's the first time I hear of them.[/QUOTE] Not surprising. Jill Stein is green party which is the American progressive party essentially. Gary Johnson is the libertarian candidate which means small government no wars lots of capitalism.
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;38341181]Paper ballots are the way to go. May be more time consuming and tedious, but there's a whole 3 months until the inauguration, I'm sure we can wait a few days to count up.[/QUOTE] Serbs use that system and safety of the votes and fairness of them are increased 50%
[QUOTE=TheTailor25;38341541][video=youtube;QdpGd74DrBM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdpGd74DrBM[/video][/QUOTE] I'm just wondering what happens if you press Jill Stein. On low tech touchscreens if you press on grid 4,4 and 2,2 with another finger it's likely to signal 3,3 because it thinks your two fingers is one big finger.
[QUOTE=Sgt-NiallR;38342501]Russia seems to be managing it okay.[/QUOTE] The thing is, alot of the bullshit was caught on camera and then were prosecuted later.
Oh, and I forgot... These are the Voting machines in Ohio, which Romney's familly bought. Coincidence?
[QUOTE=Protocol7;38341956]if the election is rigged we're going to find out and there's going to be controversy i don't think anyone can expect to rig an election and get away with it[/QUOTE] We haven't progressed all that much in 8 years bro.
[QUOTE=zakedodead;38343580]We haven't progressed all that much in 8 years bro.[/QUOTE] and voter fraud is a huge issue this time around if there is going to be electronic fraud it's never going to be this obvious and if it was, it would be taken care of near immediately
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