As recently as 2014, you could drive into the parking lot at certain Virginia polling places, connect to the voting machines inside by Wi-Fi and have your way with the vote tallies. That gaping hole in election security has been plugged. Virginia dropped these machines last year. But with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump suggesting the November election may be rigged, and security officials blaming Russia for a politically sensitive hack of the Democratic National Committee, election cybersecurity is getting a closer look. The risks are real, experts say, though it’s another question how likely they are to happen. “It’s possible for a sophisticated attacker to hack the machines and start stealing votes,” says University of California at Berkeley computer science professor David Wagner. Wagner worked on a 2007 statewide review of California’s voting system. “Every voting machine that’s been studied is susceptible,” he says. “It would be challenging,” he adds. “It would require considerable technical sophistication. And it would require someone to be physically present in each county, tampering with at least one machine.
This is not something that some random teenager can do over a weekend. It’s not something that can be done from across the world over the internet.” But, he adds, “If you want to talk about a nation-state-level adversary, yes, they’re probably capable.”
… Verified Voting President Pam Smith says the focus on the risks in the election system is a good thing. She says more states are already moving toward paper ballots and increased physical security of voting equipment.
“I think what will happen as we go forward is that people will want to have any and every extra tool they can to eliminate any lingering concerns or questions that people might have,” she adds. … There’s one other check available to anyone concerned about election fraud, Smith adds. “It’s not too late to sign up to be a poll worker. You can learn more about it from the inside out and see what some of the safeguards are.”
Full Article: Hacking the US Election ‘Possible’ But Difficult, Experts Say.