California's Testing CRACKS ES&S Evoting Systems WIDE OPEN-Prove Tactics Could Alter Vote Tallies!

[kpete]

California's testing cracks ES&S evoting system wide open
By Ryan Paul | Published: December 05, 2007 - 09:01AM CT

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Previous Red Team tests commissioned by the state of California revealed significant vulnerabilities in devices sold by Diebold and Sequoia. At the time, ES&S declined to participate in the testing, citing lack of preparedness. The tests on the ES&S machines were finally conducted in October, and the results, which were recently published (PDF), show that products from ES&S are as insecure as the rest.

The first round of tests focused on the physical security of the Polling Ballot Counter (PBC), which the Red Team researchers were able to circumvent with little effort. "In the physical security testing, the wire- and tamper-proof paper seals were easily removed without damage to the seals using simple household chemicals and tools and could be replaced without detection," the report says. "Once the seals are bypassed, simple tools or easy modifications to simple tools could be used to access the computer and its components. The key lock for the Transfer Device was unlocked using a common office item without the special 'key' and the seal removed."

After bypassing the physical security of the voting machines, the Red Team researchers were able to gain direct access to all of the files on the systems, including password files. "Making a change to the BIOS to reconfigure the boot sequence allows the system to be booted up using external memory devices containing a bootable Linux copy," according to the researchers. "Once done, all the files can be accessed and potentially modified, including sensitive files such as the password file which can be cracked by openly available cracker programs. New users may be added with known passwords and used by the same attacker or other attackers later."

The Election Management System workstations were also found to be vulnerable, with critical security codes stored in files as plain text. The Red Team also discovered that the Election Loader System used unencrypted protocols to transmit election initialization data to the PBC units, which implies vulnerability to a man-in-the-middle attack. The Election Loader System is populated with data from an Election Distribution CD, which is generated by a special Election Converter Application. The researchers were able to break the encryption used on the generated CD to "breakdown the CD, revise the election definition, and replace the CD with a new encrypted CD with an alternate election definition." The researchers note that this tactic could be used to alter vote tallies.

more at:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071205-security-testing-uncovers-severe-security-flaws-in-ess-voting-machines.html

[sam sarrha]

1. so what happens now.... nothihg.???!!!

[MonkeyFunk]

7. The California Secretary of State is already

suing ESS.

http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/automark_findings_111907.pdf

[lonestarnot]

9. Does that mean none of their fucking machines will be used in any further elections?

As in restraining order?

[williesgirl]

2. Keith needs to see this to get the word out or the MSM will bury it. rec'd

[pleah]

3. They proved it once before.

And still nothing has been done to fix the problem...because if they did the repugs wouldn't have a chance during elections.

[Ellipsis]

4. K&R (nt)

[annabanana]

5. What will it take to get rid of these machines??

When will the media take up the call?

(I wake up in the morning and I wonder.. )

[CK_John]

8. With all the publicity millions of people still fall for the Nigerian spam scam. n/t

[bvar22]

6. This SHOULD be a "Front & Center" campaign issue for every Democrat.

92% of ALL Americans support TRANSPARENT, VERIFIABLE elections!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x446445

[loudsue]

10. WAAAY past time this hit the mainstream media....

We have yet another cooked election coming up, and the congress/media fiddles while Rome burns.

:kick:

[LiberalLovinLug]

11. It's astounding!

All the hard work getting the message out there of the corruption and criminality of the administration will all be for naught.
It is appalling that the Dems will just hand over the presidency in '08 because they refuse to look seriously at this problem. And the MSM, have their corporate blinders on so tight, they can only see the big $ coming from more and more de-regulation under the next Republican president.

Why in the so-called "World's greatest democracy" would they allow a hackable machine to decide on the result? Every other western democracy uses PAPER. Its not because they are too poor to afford machines, or too technologically weak to understand how to operate them, its because paper ballots is the only way to ensure a fair outcome. Sometimes simpler IS better. The old hanging chad technology had to be replaced, yes, but not with something worse! There is nothing hard or ambiguous about drawing a large X beside the name of your choice and dropping it into a box. It can also be all done in a day, provided you hire enough volunteers. The Dems should be screaming, and should have been from 2001, to return to paper ballots nation wide until there comes a day when machine voting can be absolutely verified as accurate.

[trashcanistanista]

12. In California, as far as I know we are still

using them for disabled voters. I see no reason why they can't be banned immediately on some kind of emergency basis. We could add additional personnel to assist disabled voters instead. But as of now, we are using them in February according to my letter from elections. I am in Placer County and need them out ASAP. We are working on turning the district blue from a grassroots level and fully expect to win the district in November.

[blues90]

13. I'll never understand how these machines were ever allowed

This is private company voting machines brought in by this insane help america vote act . Who in each state was responsible for buying these machines and how do they get away with it .

we know these machines are corrupt which means at least 2004 was a stolen election and there should not need to be an impeachment , it was fraud and based on this they should be tossed out and everything they have done should be instantly over turned .

All the funds for this attack and occupation should be pulled out of the accounts of everyone involved not out of the tax payers pockets .

Of course this will never happen but it should happen .