Thu Mar 14, 2019, 03:16 PM

mbusby (785 posts)

DARPA Is Building a $10 Million, Open Source, Secure Voting System

Source: MOTHERBOARD | By Kim Zetter | Mar 14 2019

For years security professionals and election integrity activists have been pushing voting machine vendors to build more secure and verifiable election systems, so voters and candidates can be assured election outcomes haven’t been manipulated.

Now they might finally get this thanks to a new $10 million contract the Defense Department’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched to design and build a secure voting system that it hopes will be impervious to hacking.

The first-of-its-kind system will be designed by an Oregon-based firm called Galois, a longtime government contractor with experience in designing secure and verifiable systems. The system will use fully open source voting software, instead of the closed, proprietary software currently used in the vast majority of voting machines, which no one outside of voting machine testing labs can examine. More importantly, it will be built on secure open source hardware, made from special secure designs and techniques developed over the last year as part of a special program at DARPA. The voting system will also be designed to create fully verifiable and transparent results so that voters don’t have to blindly trust that the machines and election officials delivered correct results.

Read more: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/yw84q7/darpa-is-building-a-dollar10-million-open-source-secure-voting-system

49 replies, 6533 views

Thread info Bookmark this thread Trash this thread

Reply to this thread

Always highlight: 10 newest replies | Replies posted after I mark a forum

Replies to this discussion thread

49 replies	Author	Time	Post
DARPA Is Building a $10 Million, Open Source, Secure Voting System (Original post)	mbusby	Mar 2019	OP
And it allows the voter to verify their own vote.	LanternWaste	Mar 2019	#1
Open-Source Software--You get what you pay for. Almost all not reviewed, and many done by hackers.	TheBlackAdder	Mar 2019	#33
Australia has been switching to open source voting.	LastLiberal in PalmSprings	Mar 2019	#39
Well, good luck with that, as it probably had scores of vulnerabilities.	TheBlackAdder	Mar 2019	#42
No one who works in IT who knows what they're talking about...	SKKY	Mar 2019	#44
Good on them. But of course, that's not what the GOPee wants.	sandensea	Mar 2019	#2
Diebold!	True Blue American	Mar 2019	#10
An appropriately named right-wing company. (n/t)	gtar100	Mar 2019	#15
Good news. DARPA is badass.	DrToast	Mar 2019	#3
+1	Kurt V.	Mar 2019	#18
Got my attention. nt	littlemissmartypants	Mar 2019	#32
I've worked on three DARPA projects...	Adrahil	Mar 2019	#36
well, that's promising	ProfessorPlum	Mar 2019	#4
Agree. Should find a way to make it mandatory	DrToast	Mar 2019	#7
Doesn't Australia maintain its voting machine code. And voting machine manufacturers have to use it.	catrose	Mar 2019	#25
K & R	SunSeeker	Mar 2019	#5
Ready by 2020?	CDerekGo	Mar 2019	#6
Military Industrial Complex hosts	ArizonaLib	Mar 2019	#8
My thoughts exactly. Who was that creep during GWB's admin. that was a holdover	japple	Mar 2019	#16
Sounds right	ArizonaLib	Mar 2019	#17
I don't give a rat's ass what the networks want n/t	TexasBushwhacker	Mar 2019	#28
Yes, voter-verifiable paper audit trail ...	mellow	Mar 2019	#9
Why not just mark paper ballots by hand?	unc70	Mar 2019	#13
some people cant. the disabled community wants touchscreens.	mopinko	Mar 2019	#38
'Bout fucking time!	FiveGoodMen	Mar 2019	#11
LOL! Nothing is secure on the Internet.	Opel_Justwax	Mar 2019	#12
Sure as heck isn't safe now...	JCMach1	Mar 2019	#41
If banking and credit card systems can be built securely,	gtar100	Mar 2019	#14
YES!!!	ArizonaLib	Mar 2019	#19
Remember when	justgamma	Mar 2019	#20
Wasn't that the time the votes were sent to Kentucky	ArizonaLib	Mar 2019	#22
That's right! Even more damning...	gtar100	Mar 2019	#40
there is a fundamental difference between voting systems and consumer financial systems	flyingfysh	Mar 2019	#24
Right, it's not the exact same problem set	gtar100	Mar 2019	#37
Not worth anything until it's deployed, which will be when?	mart48	Mar 2019	#21
There is a basic problem with all of these schemes	flyingfysh	Mar 2019	#23
"This is a problem that is so big that one DARPA program isn't going to solve ...	LiberalLovinLug	Mar 2019	#26
Trading one problem for another	DrToast	Mar 2019	#27
Then if that happens, that is what they will do	LiberalLovinLug	Mar 2019	#30
Tabulating the vote is the problem	h2ebits	Mar 2019	#29
Total myth made up by those who have a stake in machines	LiberalLovinLug	Mar 2019	#31
Remember how that worked out for President Gore in 2000?	IronLionZion	Mar 2019	#45
If I'm not mistaken they were using some ancient punch chad system	LiberalLovinLug	Mar 2019	#46
Who's going to count all that and aggregate it?	IronLionZion	Mar 2019	#47
I refer you to my post #31	LiberalLovinLug	Mar 2019	#49
Very surprising from a group that sees the villians in sci-fi movies as inspiration rather than	rwsanders	Mar 2019	#34
as some who has spent my life writing code	lapfog_1	Mar 2019	#35
Excellent news. I remember reading here that Diebold's software was proprietary & secret...	Hekate	Mar 2019	#43
Such a thing is not possible for the simple reason we can't look inside the machine.	hunter	Mar 2019	#48

Response to mbusby (Original post)

Thu Mar 14, 2019, 03:24 PM

LanternWaste (37,748 posts)

1. And it allows the voter to verify their own vote.

And I really like this...

Members of the public will also be able to use the cryptographic values to independently tally the votes to verify the election results so that tabulating the votes isn't a closed process solely in the hands of election officials.

“Any organization [interested in verifying the election results] that hires a moderately smart software engineer [can] write their own tabulator,” Kiniry said. “We fully expect that Common Cause, League of Women Voters and the [political parties] will all have their own tabulators and verifiers.”

DARPA Is Building a $10 Million, Open Source, Secure Voting System

1. And it allows the voter to verify their own vote.

33. Open-Source Software--You get what you pay for. Almost all not reviewed, and many done by hackers.

39. Australia has been switching to open source voting.

42. Well, good luck with that, as it probably had scores of vulnerabilities.

44. No one who works in IT who knows what they're talking about...

2. Good on them. But of course, that's not what the GOPee wants.

10. Diebold!

15. An appropriately named right-wing company. (n/t)

3. Good news. DARPA is badass.

18. +1

32. Got my attention. nt

36. I've worked on three DARPA projects...

4. well, that's promising

7. Agree. Should find a way to make it mandatory

25. Doesn't Australia maintain its voting machine code. And voting machine manufacturers have to use it.

5. K & R

6. Ready by 2020?

8. Military Industrial Complex hosts

16. My thoughts exactly. Who was that creep during GWB's admin. that was a holdover

17. Sounds right

28. I don't give a rat's ass what the networks want n/t

9. Yes, voter-verifiable paper audit trail ...

13. Why not just mark paper ballots by hand?

38. some people cant. the disabled community wants touchscreens.

11. 'Bout fucking time!

12. LOL! Nothing is secure on the Internet.

41. Sure as heck isn't safe now...

14. If banking and credit card systems can be built securely,

19. YES!!!

20. Remember when

22. Wasn't that the time the votes were sent to Kentucky

40. That's right! Even more damning...

24. there is a fundamental difference between voting systems and consumer financial systems

37. Right, it's not the exact same problem set

21. Not worth anything until it's deployed, which will be when?

23. There is a basic problem with all of these schemes

26. "This is a problem that is so big that one DARPA program isn't going to solve ...

27. Trading one problem for another

30. Then if that happens, that is what they will do

29. Tabulating the vote is the problem

31. Total myth made up by those who have a stake in machines

45. Remember how that worked out for President Gore in 2000?

46. If I'm not mistaken they were using some ancient punch chad system

47. Who's going to count all that and aggregate it?

49. I refer you to my post #31

34. Very surprising from a group that sees the villians in sci-fi movies as inspiration rather than

35. as some who has spent my life writing code

43. Excellent news. I remember reading here that Diebold's software was proprietary & secret...

48. Such a thing is not possible for the simple reason we can't look inside the machine.