Millions of voters have cast their ballots in Georgia using machines that offer a now-common experience: Press the touch screen, record your choice on anything from a local mayoral race to a presidential election. It is a simple action that belies the complex system that supports it. And it is a system that is under increasing attack. Georgia’s aging election system has flaws that could be exploited if a malicious hacker ever breached it, experts say. It’s a fear that has escalated with regular news reports about alleged attempts by Russian hackers to meddle in the 2016 presidential election, an issue raised again last week by the release of a leaked National Security Agency document. … The news three months ago of a potential data breach at Kennesaw State University’s Center for Election Systems raised alarms that for critics of Georgia’s system is still ringing.
As many as 6.5 million voter records were potentially vulnerable in what the Federal Bureau of Investigation later said was a probing of the center’s system by a “security researcher” that broke no federal law. But critics said the incident raised serious questions.
… Edward W. Felten, a cybersecurity expert from Princeton University who has studied electronic voting systems, said Georgia is overrelying on the machines’ reporting that everything is fine.
“You’re asking the machine itself whether it has honestly reported the results,” said Felten, who in lab settings has been able to corrupt similar machines with malware that he said would be almost undetectable during regular operation. “My opinion is that the system cannot be safely and accurately used.”
Full Article: Georgia elections: How safe are the state’s voting machines?.