The_Guardian_-_2016-12-29

How 2016 became the year of the hack – and
what it means for the future
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In practice, however, the last two months have shown that that’s cold comfort. “Also shocking is how
unlikely states are to look at any of the paper, even in a surprising and close election like this,”
Halderman said. “Even if a candidate can force a recount – and this is probably the most damning
thing about the entire experience – there are many many opportunities for the apparent winner to try to
stop them, and they will probably be successful.”
The pair called for three significant changes to the electoral process as a result of their experience
with the 2016 recount, which should help protect the state. “What we need in the US, quite badly, is
some specific reform to the election process,” Halderman said. “Even if the 2016 election wasn’t
hacked, the 2020 election might well be; we’re facing increasingly powerful and successful state
attackers. We need some defence.”
Firstly, Halderman called for a “common sense” hardening of voting technology, ensuring that the
technological flaws which he and his colleagues have been demonstrating for over a decade are
finally dealt with. Secondly, he called for a mandatory requirement for voting machines to provide a
physical ballot in addition to a digital record: in Pennsylvania, for instance, 70% of digital votes
leave no paper record at all.
The final defence requested was for states to actually use the evidence they have, by instituting
mandatory “risk-limiting audits”. By counting a small but statistically significant and randomly
selected sample of paper ballots, the state can prove statistically that the vote has not been tampered
with, without needing to go to the expense of initiating a full recount, and without losing the
organisational benefits of digital voting machines.
“I’m pretty sure my undergraduate security class could have changed the outcome of the presidential
election,” Halderman said. “It really is that bad.”
This article was downloaded by calibre from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/28/election-recounthacking-voting-machines
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