DemActivist given official permission to hack Georgia voting machines

It's in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
It's in DU Breaking News.

She is truly my hero.

Bev Harris

On edit: link - http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0803/23voting.html

Eat 'em up, Rox!!!

And I plan to eat 'em up. It hasn't been a good day for elections officials or election maching companies, has it?

I suggest you make certain in any race that George W. Bush gets 535 votes and the Rpublican actually running gets 18,181 votes.

:evilgrin:

To be worked out, and yes, we need a coordinated plan -- details like: What ballot and voting database are we using?

A little-known piece of information DemActivist also got at this meeting: Georgia scrubbed clean the flash memories and destroyed the memory cards that held the votes for the 2002 election.

Now, for every computer scientists worried about legalities: I am putting out a call to come up with a coordinated effort this weekend.

Please PM me or send to the email at BBV.com if you can help.

Bev

"Retention of Voting Documentation (42 U.S.C. 1974 through 1974e)"



"This statute applies in all jurisdictions and to all elections in which a federal candidate is on the ballot. It requires election officials to preserve for 22 months 'all records and papers which came into their possession relating to an application, registration, payment of a poll tax, or other act requisite to voting.'

"(NOTE: The Department of Justice considers this law to cover all voter registration records, all poll lists and similar documents reflecting the identity of voters casting ballots at the polls, all applications for absentee ballots, all envelopes in which absentee ballots are returned for tabulation, all documents containing oaths of voters, all documents relating to challenges to voters or absentee ballots, all tally sheets and canvass reports, all records reflecting the appointment of persons entitled to act as poll officials or poll watchers, and all computer programs used to tabulate votes electronically. In addition, it is the Department of Justice's view that the phrase "other act requisite to voting" requires the retention of the ballots themselves, at least in those jurisdictions where a voter's electoral preference is manifested by marking a piece of paper or by punching holes in a computer card.)"


Ummm, I hope there was some casual mention to Dr. Brit Williams and Ms. Cox that destroying evidence of the vote would be a violation of federal law. Any federal prosecutors on the board? Huh, huh?

Cheers.

All we need is an attorney (pro bono, of course). If you or anyone else is interested in trying to find one, we can save you some time with a list of people who have said no for one reason or another.

Eloriel

They have now openly violated federal law. Wonder if a lawsuit could force them out of office and finally bring the whole truth out in the sunlight. Why would they do this if there wasn't something big to hide?

WooooHoooo....Sick em! Take a big ol chunk out of em!

do paper ballots?

These people are definitely hiding something and it may be something really big!

has a better ring to it....

I bet if the Repugs saw how easily the system could be manipulated to elect Democrats, they wouldn't be so fired up about machines with no paper trail.

You've been beating this drum in GA since the beginning, and I know you've gone 'round with Cathy Cox and Co... you actually gonna hack the machine or the database? We know, thanks to y'all, where the weakness is- just concerned that the weasels will try to screw you...

There are so many holes in this software, you can drive a truck through them.

And that's exactly what we're gonna do. We're going to exploit every hole and show them how.

Not to worry, we're sure they'll try to screw us. We have a plan.

Just before coming over for my almost daily dose of DU, I was just reading this on AJC and thinking "Alright Roxanne!". And then I find out that someone whose posts I enjoy reading over here is the Roxanne! After a year with this few posts, I obviously don't talk much but I just had to let you know I applaud and support your efforts.

Best of luck to you and have fun driving that truck through those holes!

Rootin' for ya in Duluth,
PatB

:toast:

They are taking the challenge. Expect that they will cheat.

Here are a few things i would like to see:

1) Force the final votes to predetermined totals.
2) Have X beat Y by exactly 1% of the vote.
3) Reverse X and Y votes.
4) Terminate the vote.
5) Cause 10% of the X Votes to vanish.
6) Add 10% to the X Votes
7) Vote 100 times for X with a single smartcard.
8) Get 18,181 votes for the winner
9) Do the above with a paper trail.
10) Invite Jimmy Carter

is that the machines they give you will bear no resemblance to the machines used in 2002.

Is it possible to create a "programming" card that puts the version from the FTP site on the machine in question? Also, there's a new virus out (W32/Nachi.A) that repairs the RPC exploit. I could see "someone" planting that virus in the machines BIOS. In short, an insider can open vulnerabilities and the same insider can close them.

actually talking about 2 different things: you say you can hack it, he says you can't hack it *undetected*. So at the very least you'll have to point out that until this kerfuffle, nobody would have even considered trying to 'detect'.

You also have to worry that perhaps they'll put in a ringer build on you, not a build from the sources you've been working with.

(I mention these things only pro forma; I'm sure you're way ahead of me)

Maybe the first rule should be that the machines stay under seal until the test, and the challenger gets to pick one TS at random from the warehouse. GEMS machine might be a bit more difficult, but still, maybe something along the lines of "challenger picks the county GEMS machine."

Cheers.

They scrubbed the flash memory of every machine. They then got rid of the memory cards, copying files onto a CD. They then overwrote all the programs.

There is no evidence left, except what was on the fTP site. And on that site, there are at least two files that may contain smoking guns.

Wow... they copied all the files onto a CD before they destroyed all the evidence? What morons! Why, that's like keeping an incriminating second book with all the real vote totals after you've edited the first book! :D

JC

Roxanne: I need to understand this fully. When you commit the data files to CD, what specifically are you copying?

Williams/Barnes (SoS): The election data.

Roxanne: So does this include the redundant files in the system? The ballot images? The race results?

Williams/Barnes (SoS): Yes.

Roxanne: So you copy the redundant files from the flash memory inside the machines?

Williams/Barnes (SoS): No.

Roxanne: You don't copy the backup copy of the files from the flash memory and commit them to the CD? What files are ON the CD?

Williams/Barnes (SoS): The votes from the PCMCIA card are stored on the historical CD.

Roxanne: But not the flash memory files?

Williams/Barnes (SoS): No. But those are still on the machine we don't delete them specifically.

Roxanne: But you make no specific effort to preserve the redundant files?

Williams/Barnes (SoS): No.

OK... so they copied all the files from the memory cards to CD and kept the redundant copies of the results in the flash memory on the machines? The cretins! Someone should really give them tips on how to destroy all the evidence -- wiping out the memory cards seems pretty futile with all these backup copies of the results lying around everywhere. :D

JC

(which still dont show up on NASED certification) they overwrote their flash memory.

But thanks for playing.

Bev

I don't really understand the issue.

From what I've read here, Georgia backed up all the election data from the PCMCIA memory cards onto CD and then may or may not have erased the cards. Backing it up onto CD sounds like a good plan to me... better to burn a few CDs than rely on some read-write electionic medium for permanent storage.

In a separate issue (and this is what I fail to understand) they may or may not have backed up/overwritten/"scrubbed" the contents of the flash memory on the machines. I'm not really sure what the point is -- the backup election data in the flash memory is presumably of interest only when the primary storage medium fails, and the software stored in the flash memory would surely need to be upgraded by the next election (I may be wrong here, I'm simply assuming there's likely a new release at least every couple of years). In any event I'm missing something here. I guess it must be the part where this is all indicative of a massive coverup etc. I do admit that any "scrubbing" of the flash memory (if it took place) does seem kind of odd, it seems like a pretty pointless thing to be doing.

JC

When you drive that truck through them see if Sonny wants to go for a ride. And tell him hey from the Illinois caller when you see him. I don't think he'll be appearing on C-SPAN any time soon, do you? Darn the luck, Sonny!

One odd note, that's DeKalb Co. Illinois, No kidding!



"The people who cast the votes don't decide an election; the people who count the vote do" -- Joseph Stalin

Get rid of those BBV machines! I'm tired of my Repug governor.

I've been hoping something like this would happen where someone could hack into these machines just so show election officials how vulnerable they are to corruption. You're our heros! Got get 'em!

On edit: Two heros here, sorry.

What are the rules? How long do you get?

we discussed no specifics today. Just issued the challenge which was accepted.

We'll work out the details next week.

they better not wonk on you and give you a reasonable amount of time and resources.

You have all their source code?

Do you suppose they'll be able to patch it up enough to stop you? God, I hope this goes well.

See my post #37. They very well might try to pull some real low down dirty scam on you including a bait and switch and sleight of hand maneuvers...

a hero too. got to get the message out to the local election officials now- i want to know for sure my vote is counted!

i hope they actually plug their machine in ;->

they still run on MS right :evilgrin:

peace

Go DemActivist! Shock and awe!

It was supposed to be a different reporter -- maybe one more friendly?

But a substitute was sent, a 20-year veteran of the Georgia political scene.

Them's the breaks, Dr. Brit.

Holy Shit! And I thought I was having a huge month!!!

then destroy their harddrives!

She's at center of high-tech voting debate

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001574367_votefraud21m.html

keep pounding on them :)

KC

You are my new hero's for taking on the "machine"...score one for the good guys (and gals) that are fighting for our democracy.

OMG...this just has to be videotaped too! Excellent Job Dem!!
You go get em Girl!
:bounce:

DEMactivist, you have gone from being a lone voice in the Georgia woods, trying to get attention to this issue - to being front and center.

I recall your posts expressing frustration over this or that official who would half listen and then get less accessible.

But you kept going.

Tenacity, clearly pays - as it appears that the state has set up a series of these public meetings to deal with growing concerns. And there you were - to push the issue further with the challenge.

Great work! Really great work! :thumbsup: :toast:

Keep it up!

Great work and best of luck!

Videotape it!! Maybe the folks at Johns Hopkins would have some tips as well. They would undoubtedly like to see it if not participate.

Be wary of them trying to portray this is the "final exam" for voting machines in general and that a passing grade this time is good forever. Ongoing in-depth reliability testing needs to be an integral part of the process (if it can't be stopped altogether).

Great job!!!

that you can do it, but in the remote possibility that on that particular day it can’t be done, what will that prove? It certainly won’t show that the systems are safe, but the proponents of these systems will say it does.


But none of that matters because it will be a snap.

Very cool! Any way i can help, let me know.

Several "good" stories in the paper this morning:
-Schrenko gets fines for stealing $20,000.
- White House doctored EPA report
- Roy Moore gets suspended
- Bush says installing a democracy in Iraq is "turning out to be" a "continuing battle in the war on terror", and "al-Qaida type fighters" are moving into iraq. (What the hell does that mean?) People can see through this BS, can't they?
- DemActivist challenges SOS to a duel!

DEMActivist, I am just in awe of your courage, determination and sheer brilliance! :loveya:

And I know that whatever you've got up your sleeve is going to be at least ten steps ahead of ole Brit, our Doug (as Eloriel calls him) and their friends in high places.

You and Bev are goddesses of Democracy! :loveya:

love:
hedda

Good luck! it seems to be that you have a good sense of how they can try to rig the demo so keep do'in what you're do'in.

Note to Bev: The ultimate argument is that there needs to be an audit trail to verify the voracity of the vote. (lot of "v" words there) If there are only flashcards, recounts are virtually impossible.

I like it. I could dance to it!

Rox rocks!

I could dance to that too!

A successfull hack combined with an effective PR campaign will put the BBV story in every media outlet in the US within days. Congrats, good luck, and go get 'em!

They could give you a machine to hack that's NOT one of the ones that was used to vote on, but one specially designed to be inpregnable for this...See if you can get someone like James Randi involved. You need someone who's adept at spotting scams, I'm not kidding...Be prepared for all kinds of chicanery on their part...Be aware, I wouldn't put it past them to use any means necessary, including slight of hand...

and I'm afraid I smell setup also, although I'm told that Bev & Co. had a hard time getting Williams et. al. to accept the challenge.

I have faith that DemActivist is probably good at what she does, but you need a charlatan and a con man to bust a charlatan's and con men. Additionally, the test should be set up using the scientific method, double blind protocols and all AND be screened for outright fraud and chicanery...This might be something Randi would get involved in and have lots of great input about...

There's a school of thought out there that the machines are inherently flawed, so how could they make such a machine, especially on such short notice.

Now, if they could whip up such a phony "good" machine, why wouldn't they save themselves a lot of grief and sell that one? I guess this gets back to the theory that they're deliberately selling vulnerable machines.

So I don't know whether it's possible to make an impregnable machine, but I imagine they could make one that's a lot less flawed. As to why they wouldn't sell those, well you made a valid point...I'm just suggesting being VERY careful, this could backfire if the hack fails and the companies involved have a lot at stake and they're pretty seedy to begin with...

we're prepared. We know exactly what to anticipate (everything) and will prepare for it.

Seems like you guys might be selling yourselves short with this demonstration. Allow me to explain...

Let us imagine that you guys have trouble hacking the machines. God forbid. A failed demonstration of the hackability of these systems will make Diebold look better in the eyes of the public and the holes in the software will still be there. Nightmare scenario!

You guys need a way to show that even though an outsider might have difficulty hacking the machines, a malicious insider with explicit knowledge of what to do, would have far less difficulty hacking the machines.

In other words, the point needs to be made that the holes are a problem regardless of whether an outsider can exploit them or not. This point should be conveyed even if you guys successfully hack the machines.

This could backfire unless that is shown, but how?

can make a difference if they get out there and are persistent! Congratulations!

:toast:

http://slashdot.org/

again!

This was posted in comments to the article on slashdot:

<SCO's Intellectual Property and Trade Secrets are embedded within the Georgia voting system, and my lawyers assure me that this programmer will be vehemently prosecuted under the full extent of Georgia Law if this "crack" attempt is successful>

Is this true?

though I doubt they will try the David and Goliath thing. The resulting press would be devastating to them.

After the "Voting Machine Mafioso" meeting yesterday, I think they're more likely to be scrambling for cover.

The thing is....I'm willing to take the risk.

...this is, at least to slashdotters, a humorous allusion to the pending IBM-SCO-Linux legal imbroglio....

You've got game.

Congratulations to BevHarris and DemActivist for your persistence in following through on this vital issue!

It is becoming increasingly clear that the majority of people in this country support freedom and fairness - which is why the small right-wing has had to resort to cheating and lying in order to pretend to have any power. The examples are all over the place: the redistricting efforts in Texas and other states, the recall effort in California, and the black-box voting scandal, the "unfair and unbalanced" news coverage of the corporate SCLM (so-called liberal media).

America believes in liberty and democracy, while it is starting to look like Republicans believe in repression and "cheap labor".

If we have fair elections, I am confident that a Democrat would win in 2004 (and would have won in 2000). Due to the creeping corporate corruption of the right wing in this country, we're not going to get fair elections unless we expose these crappy hackable voting machines. Give 'em hell DemActivist!

(given them hell), and she surely will continue. I can't wait til the "transcript" of yesterday's meeting is up.

Eloriel

off lightly. I'm sure if DA screamed anyone with Dr. Dill's creds was a liar, that would have made the article headline.

DA, Bev and all the others. You are ALL heroes!!! This deserves a :kick:

are due, and herewith bestowed. :toast:

This is a tip point a lot of people have worked very hard to reach. If all goes as planned, perhaps we can parlay it into a similar demo of the holes in the GEMS optical scan system. Once we have their optical scan system nailed, too, they will have to fix things or get out of the business. And it will almost certainly lead to official investigations of, and reform of, the certification process. Maybe we will finally find out who R. Doug Lewis really is.

Something to watch for which I've not seen mentioned yet. Diebold could go to court and attempt to get an injunction preventing the hack demonstration from taking place. If Georgia's contract is like Alameda County, CA's and runs to 300 pages, there will almost certainly be a nondisclosure clause which they could use as a basis for the suit, as well as the potential "harm" Diebold could suffer. We need to have arguments marshalled if this occurs.

But even if they do, and are successful in stopping the test, it is still just a matter of time now. They have chosen to stonewall, lie, coverup, and spin instead of simply coming forward and saying, "we bought a company with a bad product and now we are going to fix it. Thanks for the heads up." If they had done that, we'd really be in trouble. As it is, they are paying $200,000 for the worst possible advice they could get from a bunch of self-annointed experts who are afraid to call themselves the lobbyists they are. We couldn't have planned it better ourselves.

Well done all!

Gordon25

and WHAT and exciting chapter this is!

proof positive that passion and tenacity can succeed.

HUGE brava! to DemActivist!!

(you should call into Guy James this afternoon and spread the news)

nost

But I won't be doing TV or radio shows. I don't want publicity - just answers from voting machine companies and their cohorts.

If the software isn't airtight, what excuses will be provided by DIEBOLD?

"Well, nobody could of done this on election day..."

Good work on getting a chance for the challenge Roxy. Without people like you, democracy would be nothing more than just another moneymaking venture.

I really mean this and am a computer dummy..but IS IT POSSIBLE that they had the source code up on the net and PUBLISHED to throw you off and discredit you when you go to do it?

That source code was up there for years. And they took it down sorta reluctantly, under duress so to speak. The FTP site was in use during the preparation for the 2002 elections.

Now, the SECOND site that was hacked more recently (NOT by our team) might have been a different story. The BBV team stayed far away from that whole episode.

Eloriel

That sounded like a veiled threat. Hold him to that quote, Rox.

It would be a tragedy to get so close and then have it stopped by a stop watch..

There should be NO time limit.

Nor has there been any discussion of such that I know of yet. So not to worry. DEMActivist knows what she's doing.

Eloriel

Although the article states that it can be done in a "matter of minutes"...

Please send this to your local reporter, and especially to AP, Reuters, CNN, etc:

A question for reporters to ask Diebold

In response to this questions: "If I brought a team of computer professionals to you and demonstrated how to hack an election you would be happy to set that up?"

Dr. Britain Williams said yes. And in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the state said "Bring it on."

Now that Georgia has given its permission, will you, Diebold?

Diebold - 1-330-490-3790 MARK RADTKE, TOM SWIDARSKI, JOE RICHARDSON or MICHAEL JACOBSEN:

to the Chicago Trib, CNN, MSNBC and the AP. Hope these guys get enough emails to see they should cover the story.

see post #86.

Even if I am deluding myself, need the encouragment to keep sending the emails.
Tomorrow morning if the ap story is not in local papers, am going to hit all the locals with an email telling them to check out the good story on ap.
Doesn't hurt, and might be of help.

From what I understand the purpose of this demo is (or perhaps should be) not to show that Diebold's new technology is safe. But rather to demonstrate that what we found on the FTP site was hackable at the time of the 2002 election.

Moreover the point of all this has not been that the election system is hackable by outsiders, though that may also be the case. Rather that it was hackable in 2002:

1. In 2002 by insiders who knew the holes the source code.

and

2. In 2002 by anyone who had access to the FTP site... which was clearly a lot of people.

Therefore..

This can be accomplished simply and without risk.

The demonstration can use machines that DA sets up using the code found on the FTP site. That way it can be practiced and when performed in front of the cameras can be picture perfect for the Teev crowd.

Sure Brit and Diebold will whinge and complain and say that the code we are using is not the real code.

But it is not up our job to help show that their new code is safe. That is there job. If they want us to try and hack that too then they should release the new code to DA and her team. I am fairly confident that they will refuse to do so.

So when they cry foul... which they will

Then DA can point out:

1. That the point of this demonstration and challenge is not some kind of boys game of "can I get into your machine". But rather to prove conclusively that the code we found on the FTP site is so full of holes that the GA 2002 result can be legitimately called into question.

and

2. That they have lied so much about what code was where and when that we do not trust them. There own evidence (Rob Georgia) shows that they probably don't know what code was where anyway.

I don't think this should be seen as a hack challenge. But as a demonstration of our findings so far.

If Brit and Diebold etc want to set up a hack challenge with their new tech in the future then lets do that too.... they provide the machines... we recruit several teams of top security consultants and we do a test in real time. But as I say that is not, and never has been the point of what we have been doing with the Diebold FTP files.

At the moment these files are the only solid thing we have. And it was them that opened this all up. Lets keep the focus on them.... and not on whatever tricks are underway to coverup and fixup the fiasco.

Anyways.. that's my 2 cents worth. But this is DA's show and I have complete confidence in her judgment.

al

This is not a game to see who can outwit who.

The word "challenge" accomplishes the purpose of getting media and the sports-minded's attention. But WE must keep the focus on the importance of the honesty, integrity, credibility and verifiy-abilty of the voting process itself for everybody.

The highest risk here is that more and more voters will just stop voting if they do not trust the process.

Heroic.

Oh, I'm liking what I'm seeing behind the scenes. Tune in again.

:toast:

Eloriel

Great work Bev and DA and all the rest who have worked so hard to further democracy in this country. This is so exciting, go get 'em!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

:kick:

:kick:

kick

:toast: :toast: :toast:

Also, I just kicked the LBN story.

(Atlanta-AP) -- A computer program developer from Cumming has proposed a challenge against the state.

Roxanne Jekot, 51, says she and a few expert friends could crack Georgia's $54 million touch-screen voting system in just minutes.

<snip>

Brit Williams is a retired Kennesaw State University professor who helped design the touch-screen security system.

He says he welcomes the dare, but puts the odds of breaking into the software undetected at $1 billion to one.

Jekot says she simply wants to point out the system's weakness so they can be fixed. She contends she will find a way to place and unauthorized voted anywhere she wants.

more...http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=35729

:bounce: :bounce:

So if DEMActivist wins, does she get a billion dollars? :evilgrin:

Bad.

Eloriel

:toast: :party: :toast: :party: :toast: :party: :toast: :party: :toast: :party:

I wish!

Why is it that it all comes down to $$$$$ for these people?

LOL, he set the odds at 1 billion to one, not 1 billion dollars to one.

We can always dream. I know you'd put it to a good cause.:thumbsup:

......Many thoughts and prayers are with you!!!.....Make your 15 minutes of fame worthy of all those that founded our grand American experiment.....Best Wishes from the Bluegrass!!!

We're all pulling for you. We know you will make their heads explode from fury!

Kick to the top!

:kick:

:kick:

:kick:

I'm waiting....