INDEPENDENT NEWS

Students Learn How To "Hack-A-Vote"

Published: Thu 9 Oct 2008 01:29 PM
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Hack-A-Vote
By Julia Whitty, The Blue Marble Blog
For full story see...
Hack-A-Vote
Graduate and undergraduate students at Rice University are learning how easy it is to wreak havoc on today's voting machines. As part of an advanced computer science class, students do their best to rig a voting machine in the classroom.
Here's how it works: The class is split into two teams. In phase one, the teams play unscrupulous programmers at a voting machine company. Their task is to make subtle changes to the Hack-A-Vote's software that will alter the election's outcome but that can't be detected by election officials. In the second phase, the teams play software regulators who certify the code submitted by the hacking team.
The results prove it's easy to insert subtle changes to the voting machine. If someone has access and wants to do damage, it's a straightforward hack. The good news is the regulator team often find the hack. Often, but not always.
For full story see...
Hack-A-Vote
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