http://www.times-standard.com/local/ci_6488115

Local election systems may be vulnerable to hackers

James Faulk/The Times-Standard

Article Launched: 07/28/2007 04:21:31 AM PDT

EUREKA -- A team of University of California computer scientists were able to hack into several voting systems used by California counties, including the two systems currently used in Humboldt County, the secretary of state announced Friday.

Matthew Bishop and David Wagner, computer science and cryptography experts, were able to hack into both the Diebold Accuvote system, and the Hart InterCivic system. The main vote counting system in Humboldt County is the Diebold Accuvote machine, and the Hart device is used to improve accessibility for people with disabilities.

The hacking test was done as part of a top-to-bottom review conducted by Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

”The top-to-bottom review is designed to look at the security, accuracy, reliability and accessibility of the voting systems certified for use in California in a way that's never been done before on a state or national level,” said Bowen, the state's chief elections officer.

”Every voter has the right to have his or her vote counted as it was cast, and voters want to know if the very tools of our democracy are secure, accurate, reliable and accessible,” she said.

The independent UC reports are available on the secretary of state's Web site at http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vs.htm/.

In addition to the hack tests, the secretary of state will also be holding a public meeting on Monday and possibly Tuesday to get public input on the situation. A final decision on what this means -- and whether it could lead to a decertification of Humboldt County's voting systems shortly before a string of four closely packed elections -- will likely be announced Friday.

”The UC teams went through a thoughtful, methodical, analytical process in conducting their examinations of these systems,” Bowen said. “It is my intent to go through a similarly thoughtful, methodical and analytical process in determining what we do next.”

Humboldt County Registrar of Voters Carolyn Crnich said it's unclear under what conditions the tests were prepared.

”It's my understanding that the red team attacks that were made during the top-to-bottom review did not take into consideration the security efforts or guidelines that had been added by former Secretary of State Bruce McPherson -- so whether or not the systems could be penetrated with those other security guidelines in place, I don't know,” Crnich said.

On the Web: The independent UC reports are available at http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vs.htm/.

James Faulk can be reached at 441-0511 or jfaulk@times-standard.com.