Fortify Software Releases Voting Guide in Time for November Elections
New Study ranks manual and electronic voting methods to guide voters and government officials in choosing the most
reliable voting option available
SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Fortify Software Inc., the market leader in enterprise application security
solutions for Business Software Assurance, today released a report on the current state of voting systems in America
including a guide to choosing the most secure voting method for the November elections. Furthermore, the study points to
the lasting inadequacies of today's electronic voting software, and calls upon elections officials and voting machine
manufacturers to work alongside government officials in establishing better security metrics for the development of
e-voting software.
"In November, voters will participate in one of the most critical elections in U.S. history, and unfortunately many
will still be at risk of inaccurate vote tallying and e-voting software vulnerabilities," says Brian Chess, Chief
Scientist and Co-Founder of Fortify Software. "It is important for voters to understand the voting methods available as
they go to the polls in order to make sure their vote is counted. The voting public must also urge government and
manufacturers to adequately address the insecurities that remain in these systems and that weaken the integrity of our
democratic process."
Fortify's report, Voting in America, recommends the following voting methods in order of most desirable to least
desirable to voters this November:
1) Hand-Counted Paper
2) Optical Scan
3) Absentee
4) Direct Recording Electronic (DRE)
5) Lever Machine
6) Punch Card
While not all voting methods are available in every state or precinct, Fortify suggests that voters take advantage of
the most secure option available to them.
"It is simply dangerous to rely on today's electronic voting machines to deliver a fair and accurate election," said
Avi Rubin, Ph.D., Professor of Computer Science at John Hopkins University. "The software flaws we uncovered before the
2004 election continue to plague today's voting systems, and Fortify Software's study provides voters with a solid
assessment of their voting options for this November."
Additionally, the study notes that the growth of large, urban voting populations continues to add to the complexity of
the American voting system, and has made electronic voting systems crucial to achieving an inclusive elections process;
however, today's software-based voting machines remain inherently insecure. The report also concludes that in order to
accommodate to the growing voter population, government and voting machine manufacturers must work to ensure that these
technologies are developed with both accuracy and security in mind.
"The technology used for voting machines is an innovation which our democracy depends on," adds Chess. "Elections
officials and voting manufacturers need to focus on putting the right processes and technologies in place to make voting
safe and reliable."
To access a full copy of the report, please visit: http://www.fortify.com/landing/assetsreg/evotingstudy.jsp.
ENDS
About Fortify Software, Inc.
Fortify(R)'s Business Software Assurance products and services protect companies from the threats posed by security
flaws in business-critical software applications. Its software security suite - Fortify 360 - drives down costs and
security risks by automating key processes of developing and deploying secure applications. Fortify Software's customers
include government agencies and FORTUNE 500 companies in a wide variety of industries, such as financial services,
healthcare, e-commerce, telecommunications, publishing, insurance, systems integration and information management. The
company is backed by world-class teams of software security experts and partners. More information is available at
http://www.fortify.com.