EDS-Partner VoteHere reports computer break-in

E-voting firm reports computer break-in

Federal authorities investigating VoteHere intrusion

MSNBC -Dec. 29, 2003

BELLEVUE, Wash. - A company developing encryption-based software for secure electronic voting has itself become the victim of a computer break-in, the company’s top executive told MSNBC.com. Federal authorities have confirmed that the incident is under investigation.

The intrusion into Bellevue-based VoteHere’s corporate network occurred in October, said Jim Adler, VoteHere’s founder, president and chief executive officer. No suspects have yet been named, but Adler said his company, in cooperation with investigators, had developed substantial information about the source of the intrusion over the past two months.

“We feel that it may have been politically motivated,” Adler said.

Adler’s revelation came amid a deepening debate over e-voting and its vulnerability to election fraud — and a controversy over surreptitious methods to get information about how e-voting software works.

The best-known case arose earlier this year, when e-voting critics claimed that they had obtained the code for Diebold Election Systems’ software from the company’s corporate network. Researchers analyzed that code to claim that Diebold’s software was insufficiently secure against fraud — fueling a campaign to require that e-voting systems print out paper ballot receipts as well, as part of a voter verification system.

Last month, the state of California said it would put such a requirement into effect by mid-2006. Other states are looking into similar measures, and three pieces of federal legislation relating to e-voting verification have been introduced in Congress (H.R.2239 and its companion S.1980, as well as S.1986).

Adler said his company has “seen some connection” between the criticism of e-voting systems and October’s computer break-in, but he declined to go into specifics.

“I don’t want to necessarily politicize this,” he said. “This is just a crime.”

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printed from EDS-Partner VoteHere reports computer break-in on 2004-03-23 20:09:00