Mark my words, though you may disagree at this point in time: this is an inside job. I smell "black bag operation" all over this. I wouldn't be surprised if Wackenhut, the CIA's fave mercs-for-hire, pulled this one. My gut also tells me this MSNBC piece is a planted one.
The wind-up...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.
...and the pitch.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.”
The expected Grand Slam:He said the intruder took advantage of a network security hole “that we were a patch behind on.” While gaining entry, the intruder set off an electronic “trip wire” that alerted VoteHere, he said. Federal authorities were immediately told of the break-in, Adler said, and the intruder’s activities were monitored as part of the investigation. Then access was blocked.
The investigation is being conducted by the Washington Cyber Task Force, a Seattle-based effort that involves the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service and local law-enforcement officials. Spokesmen for the FBI and the Secret Service confirmed to MSNBC.com that an investigation was under way but declined to comment further.
Adler said he was discussing the incident even though the investigation is not finished because “we believe that others in the election industry should be aware of it.” He declined to say what kind of information the intruder might have taken, but emphasized that the break-in did not compromise the integrity of VoteHere’s software or any voting results.
They're going after the anti-BBV movement, us activists, and people like Bev Harris (who, I believe, is in Washington state). Here's the clincher:
Some e-voting companies contend that their software code is proprietary and must remain secret, leading critics to charge that voters would be entrusting their ballots to a “black box.”
Here's the scenario: VoteHere stages a hack of its own valuable system (very Rove-esque), mentions the break-in and "avoids" politicizing it, while actually underlining anti-BBVers as the target - a warning to activists to lay off or else. Meanwhile, the credibility of all the work we've done is damaged, our collective reputation is tarnished, even if no one's ever arrested for the alleged break-in.
This whole thing stinks to high heaven. Tell me, why would VoteHere risk potential theft of "...things that are proprietary, like people’s salaries and their HR
history" by allowing ongoing illegal access while recording the intrusion? Anyone? One reason VoteHere may have sat back and monitored: to provide an 'evidence' trail (probably forged) of the break-in, just as a backup in case the scare tactic doesn't deter us.
Lastly, note the following:The mere fact that someone was able to gain unauthorized access to an e-voting company’s computer network might lead some to question the security of e-voting. But Adler said cryptographic voting systems are able to weather such intrusions.
“It’s true that systems would always be compromised,” he said. “The point is, you want to know about it. ... If you can detect when those things happen, that’s what’s vitally important. Any ballots that get compromised will get detected, and that’s what’s crucial.”
Ah-HA! "Ballots", he says, not "votes". Every physical ballot that is affected will be detected, but you can bet the unseen votes can get compromised from now until never - and no compromise will be detected.
Even the "...we were a patch behind on” line works double-duty - it makes VoteHere seem as if it's always vigilantly trying to keep everything secure, and it also reinforces the image of a malicious hacker, exploiting his way into the system.
Sneaky bastard.
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