Voting System Pwned by Michigan Wolverines
By Kim Zetter October 4, 2010 | 4:33 pm | Categories: Cybersecurity, E-Voting, Elections, Hacks and Cracks
Voting System Pwned by Michigan Wolverines | Threat Level | Wired.com
It’s a win for the University of Michigan Wolverines, . . . if not for anyone else.
After election officials in Washington, D.C., egged on hackers to have a go at their new internet voting system, they did just that. The result was Michigan’s fight song “Hail to the Victors” played to voters after they cast their ballots.
Election officials were testing their new pilot voting system in advance of elections in November, but had to pull it down on Friday after the hackers seized it.
Officials initially cited “usability issues” that had been brought to their attention, but the election board’s chief technology officer later admitted to the Washington Post that “the integrity of the system had been violated.”
A Michigan professor apparently “unleashed his students” on the system to get the win for Michigan.
The system, which was paid for in part with a $300,000 federal grant, was supposed to allow about 900 military personnel and overseas voters the ability to cast absentee ballots. But officials now say the voters will only be able to download their ballots via the system and will then have to send them in separately — via post, e-mail or fax – to be counted.
Common Cause, computer scientists and others had warned election board officials that the system was a security risk, but officials had dismissed their concerns.
Voting System Pwned by Michigan Wolverines
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