[EL] Kelleher vs Halderman: Internet Voting Security Debate

[Paul Lehto]

On Sat, Sep 29, 2012 at 7:48 AM, Joseph Lorenzo Hall <joehall at gmail.com>wrote:

> Past performance is no guarantee of future results... it's the same in
> information security as it is in finance. --Joe
>
>
Especially when the "future performance" of internet voting is elections
that really, really matter, and present "performance" really doesn't matter
much, if at all.

Today's claims about internet voting are akin to arguing that because a few
test flights of aircraft containing passengers and cargo of no consequence
have not been subjected to attacks (or have resisted what little attacks
there were), we can safely conclude that the same aircraft will perform
similarly when we load the presidency of the United States and access keys
to the US Treasury on board, announce to the entire world the date and time
of the big flight (Election Day in November), and allow every insider as
well as every voter and non-voter the chance to communicate with (and thus
tamper with) the servers that run the aircraft-election.  This analogy
could easily be extended further.

The above reasons are why it is reasonable to get on board a private or
commercial flight, but very hazardous and imprudent to get on board an
internet-based computerized "flight" that controls the result of the
highest-stakes contest in the world - the presidency of the United States.
A hacker need not even change the result of the election per se, all they
need to do is shoot the election-plane down, resulting in a do-over
election.  This might be done maliciously, to prove it can be done, or even
by an interested campaign supporter thinking a later election will serve
their favored candidate better.

It's more like the present performance of internet-based elections is
irrelevant to future performance of real and consequential elections than
it is to say that past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Paul R. Lehto, J.D.

-- 
Paul R Lehto, J.D.
P.O. Box 1
Ishpeming, MI  49849
lehto.paul at gmail.com
906-204-4965 (cell)
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