Cybersecurity
Iowa Caucus Results Saved by Plain Old Paper After App Fails
- Cybersecurity experts say snafu shows risk to election tech
- Dream of online voting fraught with potential for attacks
This article is for subscribers only.
In 2010, Washington D.C. opened its proposed online voting system to public scrutiny. Officials wanted to know if the new platform was safe to use in elections. Within 36 hours, hackers from the University of Michigan broke into the network and changed every single vote cast in a pilot election.
The team of Michigan students and staff took control of the voting system, and the security cameras at the Board of Elections, too. Yet officials had no idea, even after the hackers modified the “Thank You” page that appeared at the end of the test vote to play the University of Michigan fight song.