Thread: WORST EVER SECURITY FLAW FOUND IN DIEBOLD TS VOTING MACHINE

http://openvotingfoundation.org/tiki-re ... rticleId=1
Contact: Alan Dechert
Reference: PICTURES

Diebold has made the testing and certification process practically irrelevant,. according to Dechert. If you have access to these machines and you want to rig an election, anything is possible with the Diebold TS — and it could be done without leaving a trace. All you need is a screwdriver.. This model does not produce a voter verified paper trail so there is no way to check if the voter.s choices are accurately reflected in the tabulation.

Open Voting Foundation is releasing 22 high-resolution close up pictures of the system. This picture, in particular, shows a BOOT AREA CONFIGURATION. chart painted on the system board.

The most serious issue is the ability to choose between "EPROM" and "FLASH" boot configurations. Both of these memory sources are present. All of the switches in question (JP2, JP3, JP8, SW2 and SW4) are physically present on the board. It is clear that this system can ship with live boot profiles in two locations, and switching back and forth could change literally everything regarding how the machine works and counts votes. This could be done before or after the so-called "Logic And Accuracy Tests".

A third possible profile could be field-added in minutes and selected in the "external flash" memory location, the interface for which is present on the motherboard.

This is not a minor variation from the previously documented attack point on the newer Diebold TSx. To its credit, the TSx can only contain one boot profile at a time. Diebold has ensured that it is extremely difficult to confirm what code is in a TSx (or TS) at any one time but it is at least theoretically possible to do so. But in the TS, a completely legal and certified set of files can be instantly overridden and illegal uncertified code be made dominant in the system, and then this situation can be reversed leaving the legal code dominant again in a matter of minutes.

These findings underscore the need for open testing and certification. There is no way such a security vulnerability should be allowed. These systems should be recalled.

OPEN VOTING FOUNDATION is a nonprofit non stock California corporation dedicated to demonstrating the need for and benefits of voting technology that can be publicly scrutinized

I don't know anything about 'boots' or 'configurations', but it doesn't take a genius to realize any computer can be 'fixed'.

The one thing that sealed it for me was the story I heard from our own little county. This county has a small population, but kinda large area. They have various polling places in country gas stations, schools, etc.. The federal government gave them a grant from the 'Help America Vote" (I think I have the right name). The county said they only got enough money for 2 electronic voting machines, so they were going to close all but two polling places.

Did that grant come with the stipulation they must use electronic voting machines? Why else would a small county do that, if they were not being 'led' in that direction. In that county with paper ballots, the counting might take a total of 2 hours - by hand. Why would an area like that need computer voting? There is only one reason.

Originally Posted by nntrixie

Why would an area like that need computer voting? There is only one reason.

hmmmm

I have no faith in them at all. It just seems to me that if every pro-illegal and latino running doesn't get in...it's going to be a Mexico city around here.