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Elections: The Hidden Security Danger for Governments
The news is replete with alleged actions of foreign governments and hackers trying to impact the democratic election process in the United States. What most people do not realize is that almost all elections, even national elections for the office of President, are actually run by state and local governments. As such, it is incumbent upon the state and local governments to ensure the security of all elections, which underpin the faith and trust in our democracy and our democratic process.
While there are many technical things that can be done to ensure the integrity of elections and the voting process, this article will attempt to focus on more holistic approaches to the security of elections. I note that the ideas expressed herein should not be thought of as an exhaustive list but more as a beginning for thinking about security measures.
Voting Machines
Voting machines should provide some kind of vote verification and authentication. While many machines provide an audit function, these audits are only as good as the security around the software and hardware that underpins the voting machines. As such, all voting machines should have a mechanism to create a paper record of a vote cast by a citizen. These paper records can then be used by the electoral board of the state or municipality to audit and authenticate all voting records.
If there is no paper record, the entity running the election is at the mercy of the data provided by the voting machines' software and hardware for not only the vote count but also the information used to conduct an audit. If the hardware or software has been compromised and miscounts or somehow otherwise alters a vote, that same compromise will probably rear its head in the audit, making such an audit virtually useless.
Passwords
All electoral systems, including voting machines, should have a requirement for very strong passwords with two-factor authentication. Many hacks on electoral systems, and on cyber systems in general, begin with stolen credentials. If two-factor authentication is not implemented, those stolen credentials can lead to havoc being reeked upon the electoral process.
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