Hotel Minibar Key Opens Diebold Voting Machines

[salvorhardin]

Pardon me if this has been posted here already. I just did a search and didn't find it.

Via Slashdot...

As if Diebold doesn't have enough to worry about! On the Freedom To Tinker blog, Ed Felten, one of the co-authors of the recent report 'Security Analysis of the Diebold AccuVote-TS Voting Machine', reveals an even more bizarre finding related to the initial report. It turns out that you can gain access to an AccuVote-TS machine using a hotel minibar key. In fact, the key in question is a utilitarian type used to open office furniture, electronic equipment, jukeboxes, and the like. They might as well hand them out like candy."
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/18/178218

From the linked article at Freedom To Tinker (Ed Felten's blog)

The access panel door on a Diebold AccuVote-TS voting machine — the door that protects the memory card that stores the votes, and is the main barrier to the injection of a virus — can be opened with a standard key that is widely available on the Internet.

...

Chris’s key was left over from a previous job, maybe fifteen years ago. He said the key had opened either a file cabinet or the access panel on an old VAX computer. A little research revealed that the exact same key is used widely in office furniture, electronic equipment, jukeboxes, and hotel minibars. It’s a standard part, and like most standard parts it’s easily purchased on the Internet. We bought several keys from an office furniture key shop — they open the voting machine too. We ordered another key on eBay from a jukebox supply shop. The keys can be purchased from many online merchants.
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=1064

Incredible.

[Maddy McCall]

1. Oh my god.

I thought it couldn't get any worse.

:wow:

[salvorhardin]

3. This certainly is jaw-dropping isn't it.

To be fair: It still requires physical access to the machines and time to swap memory cards. It's just now we know that because a standard, widely available key is used the opportunity to affect a Diebold machine becomes much greater than we would have previously thought.

But yeah, this is rather remarkable.

[SoCalDemGrrl]

2. Unbelievable..kick the topic. Every citizen should know THIS..NOW!!

[salvorhardin]

4. Please recommend this too.

I can't recommend the topic for the greatest page because I started it, but (and I've never said this about a topic I've started before) this does belong there.

[livvy]

5. Aaarrr...simply stupifyingly and disturbingly amazing. K&R n/t

[unblock]

6. the onion couldn't make up crap like this!

:rofl:

:cry:

[katinmn]

7. How %$#$! convenient!

[Fly by night]

8. Two previous threads on this topic already on "Greatest" page

Important topic, but your search function seems to be out of order. It might be good to cross-reference to these previous threads.