Hacking Elections: Opportunity Clicking
An emerging media outlet, Who.What.Why posted an article on Monday in their Threats to Democracy section that is totally worth reading. Seriously. When people think of election theft, most assume that amounts to somebody doing something to alter how ballots are cast or counted. Apparently, we should start thinking bigger.
This year we've seen a huge number of cyber attacks on everything from brands we shop at or services we rely on. I mean many of us are enrolled in so many credit fraud monitoring services from web sites that lost control of our information that we have more eyes on our banking than the banks themselves. Now, with so many states relying on electronic voting, ballot return services, and more online voting efforts, the experts warn that the very infrastructure of our elections is becoming a juicier opportunity than hacking a web store -- and way easier! But derailing an election could cause a different kind of total chaos.
Some of the experts include executives of our Foundation and TrustTheVote Project, who argue that its not just about hackers amusing themselves. It could well be foreign powers pursuing their own agenda. Check out this article. Author Jimmy Chin makes a strong case. I like the way they describe themselves: "We don't cover the news. We uncover the truth."
Share the story with your friends; seriously--most of us are so totally unaware of how vulnerable our voting systems have become. While we're wondering who the next President might be and how that might affect our daily lives, we should be asking why our voting machinery is literally falling apart and totally vulnerable to derailing an entire election and causing chaos.
