Cyber attacks – even in the elections

Cyber attacks – even in the elections

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Desi_accuvote-tsx_vvpatWhile cyber hacks and attacks can cause massive damage to both economic and goverment factors, it’s not only sophisticated hackers that cause damage. In places where the democratic voting process is done through machines, hackers – even those with only rudimentary skills – can break into those machines and cause damage on a much larger scale.

Forging the elections is a well-known problems that started probably at the beginning of democratic election itself, but progressing to electronic voting was, supposedly, backed with technological means to defend against such attempts to forge it. Using different softwares and machines – as is done in the U.S., for examples, where different states use different machines and softwares – all this is apparently not enough to protect the democratic process, as hackers can affect even the computerized ballots themselves, thus forging the outcome. Worse still, some of the machines are so poorly protected that every small-time hacker can break in.

In a report published recently by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency, security deficiencies were detected in many areas, from the network access, the controls, operating system control, data protection and voting tally process. These deficiencies, together with the chance of a remote breaking in, are a huge threat to the democratic election process.

These deficiencies can occur for two main reason. The first is lack of satisfactory inspection on the manufacturer’s part before machines are sold to the goverment, sometimes with only minimal software and hardware security. The other is the goverment’s lack of time, resources or knowledge to inspect the machines itself and so they rely on the machines as they were received from the manufacturer.

There’s no doubt that many factors, external and internal alike, have an interest is sabotaging the elections process and its outcomes – not only in the U.S. As democratic states and countries become more technologically advanced, they must take into account the risks that follow the use of such technology. While it can offer easier access and percision in the elections, as in many other areas, it must also come with higher security measures if it should justify being used.