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Experts Able To Hack California Voting Machines

Friday, July 27, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO, Jul. 27, 2007 (KGO) (KGO) -- Your vote is vulnerable. California computer experts were able to hack into machines made by Diebold Election Systems, Hart Intercivic and Sequoia Voting Systems, and change votes. It's part of a state-sponsored study to decide if those systems are safe to use in the presidential primary next February.

These were some of the best computer scientists in the country and they had unfettered access to the voting machines. So it's not a typical situation, but it does show some sloppiness in the manufacturing and it leaves the secretary of state with a big decision.

With the presidential primary just six months away, some voting systems in California could be decertified.

Prof. Henry Brady: "I think we have to keep pushing the vendors to get better machines."

Cal professor Henry Brady is an expert on electronic voting. He's been awaiting the state-ordered review which concluded that "security mechanisms for all systems analyzed were inadequate to ensure accuracy and integrity of election results."

Sounds damning, but...

Prof. Henry Brady, U.C. Berkeley: "Have elections officials set up procedures that make that hard? So, for example, some of these attacks require that you sort of have physical intimacy with the system for an extended period of time. Most people who want to hack into the system will not have that kind of time to do what they want to do."

The team of hackers that exposed the vulnerabilities had the time, the opportunity and the expertise to pursue worst-case scenarios.

Matt Bishop, computer hacker: "Someone, for example, somehow manipulating the machines that count the votes, so they count the votes incorrectly."

And they were able to access files, forge records and crash the systems.

Debra Bowen, CA Secretary of State: "The goal is to put to rest any controversy about voting systems or voting equipment itself."

Secretary of State Debra Bowen launched the review two months ago. Now, she says she needs more time to digest the results before deciding what to do.

Steve Weir, Contra Costa County Clerk Recorder: "There's no smoking gun here. There's no indication that there has been a corrupted system in California."

Contra Costa County Registrar Steve Weir insists nothing in the findings should throw off the upcoming primary because with safeguards in place, there's a world of difference between real elections and tampering in a lab.

Steve Weir, State Assoc. Registrars: "If I gave you the keys to my car, opened my garage door, put my dog away and turned off the alarm, and I said, 'by the way, take the car,' you haven't stolen my car, you've had permission to drive my car.'"

Prof. Henry Brady: "I think that we still have reasons to worry about voting systems. I wish the vendors did a better job on security. I wish they did a better job on accuracy. I wish they produced a better product."

By law, counties must be told six months before an election if the state's going to decertify their equipment, to give them time to switch to something else. So the secretary of state has until next Friday to pull the plug. She plans a public hearing on these Findings Monday.

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