Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday 16 July 2019
Old software makes new electoral systems ripe for hacking

WASHINGTON (AP) — Penn- Michigan professor and that runs on Windows 7, its end of life on Oct. 13, often taking at least a year
sylvania's message was renowned election security Marks said, her group will 2020, weeks before the and costing six figures.
clear: The state was taking expert. He said the coun- go to court to block the election. ES&S, the nation's largest
a big step to keep its elec- try risks repeating "mistakes purchase. State elections ES&S said it expects by vendor, completed its lat-
tions from being hacked in that we made over the last spokeswoman Tess Ham- the fall to be able to offer est certification four months
2020. Last April, its top elec- decade or decade-and- mock declined to com- customers an election sys- ago, using Windows 7.
tion official told counties a-half when states bought ment because Georgia tem running on Microsoft's Hart's last certification was
they had to update their voting machines but didn't hasn't officially selected a current operating system, May 29 on a Windows ver-
systems. So far, nearly 60% keep the software up-to- vendor. Windows 10. It's now being sion that also won't be sup-
have taken action, with date and didn't have any The election technology tested by a federally ac- ported by November 2020.
$14.15 million of mostly fed- serious provisions" for doing industry is dominated by credited lab. Though ES&S is testing a
eral funds helping counties new system it's unclear how
buy brand-new electoral long it will take to com-
systems. plete the process — fed-
But there's a problem: eral and possible state re-
Many of these new systems certification, plus rolling out
still run on old software that updates — and if it will be
will soon be outdated and done before primaries be-
more vulnerable to hack- gin in February.
ers. Election administrators no-
An Associated Press analy- toriously suffer from insuf-
sis has found that like many ficient resources. Recently,
counties in Pennsylvania, many jurisdictions splurged
the vast majority of 10,000 on new election systems,
election jurisdictions na- some using their portion of
tionwide use Windows 7 or $380 million in federal funds
an older operating system provided to states.
to create ballots, program Counties in South Dakota,
voting machines, tally votes South Carolina and Dela-
and report counts. ware all recently bought
That's significant because election systems, while
Windows 7 reaches its "end many others are evaluating
of life" on Jan. 14, meaning purchases.
Microsoft stops providing The use of election systems
technical support and pro- In this June 13, 2019, photo, Steve Marcinkus, an Investigator with the Office of the City Com- that still run on Windows 7
ducing "patches" to fix soft- missioners, demonstrates the ExpressVote XL voting machine at the Reading Terminal Market in "is of concern, and it should
ware vulnerabilities, which Philadelphia. be of concern," said U.S.
hackers can exploit. In a Associated Press Election Assistance Com-
statement to the AP, Mi- mission Chair Christy Mc-
crosoft said Friday it would so. three titans : Omaha, Ne- For jurisdictions that have Cormick. EAC develops
offer continued Windows 7 The AP surveyed all 50 braska-based Election Sys- already purchased systems election system guidelines.
security updates for a fee states, the District of Co- tems and Software LLC; running on Windows 7, ES&S McCormick noted that
through 2023. lumbia and territories, and Denver, Colorado-based said it will be working with while election systems
Critics say the situation is an found multiple battle- Dominion Voting Systems Microsoft to provide sup- aren't supposed to be con-
example of what happens ground states affected Inc.; and Austin, Texas- port until jurisdictions can nected to the internet, vari-
when private companies by the end of Windows 7 based Hart InterCivic Inc. update. Windows 10 came ous stages of the election
ultimately determine the support, including Pennsyl- They make up about 92% out in 2015. process require transfers of
security level of election sys- vania, Wisconsin, Florida, of election systems used Hart and Dominion didn't information, which could
tems with a lack of federal Iowa, Indiana, Arizona and nationwide, according to a respond to requests for be points of vulnerability for
requirements or oversight. North Carolina. Also affect- 2017 study . All three have comment. attackers. She said some
Vendors say they have ed are Michigan, which re- worked to win over states Microsoft usually releases election administrators are
been making consistent cently acquired a new sys- newly infused with federal patches for operating sys- working to address the
improvements in election tem, and Georgia, which funds and eager for an up- tems monthly, so hackers problem.
systems. And many state will announce its new sys- date. have learned to target Officials in Pennsylvania,
officials say they are wary tem soon. U.S. officials determined older, unsupported sys- Michigan and Arizona say
of federal involvement in "Is this a bad joke?" said that Russia interfered in the tems. Its systems have been they have discussed the
state and local elections. Marilyn Marks, executive 2016 presidential election ground zero for crippling software issue with their
It's unclear whether the of- director of the Coalition and have warned that Rus- cyberattacks, including the vendors. Other states men-
ten hefty expense of secu- for Good Governance, an sia, China and other na- WannaCry ransomware at- tioned in this story didn't
rity updates would be paid election integrity advo- tions are trying to influence tack, which froze systems in respond to AP requests for
by vendors operating on cacy organization, upon the 2020 elections. 200,000 computers across comment.
razor-thin profit margins or learning about the Win- Of the three companies, 150 countries in 2017. Pennsylvania elections
cash-strapped jurisdictions. dows 7 issue. Her group only Dominion's newer sys- For many people, the spokeswoman Wanda
It's also uncertain if a ver- sued Georgia to get it to tems aren't touched by up- end of Microsoft 7 support Murren said contract lan-
sion running on Windows ditch its paperless voting coming Windows software means simply updating. guage allows such a soft-
10, which has more security machines and adopt a issues — though it has elec- However, for election sys- ware upgrade for free.
features, can be certified more secure system. Geor- tion systems acquired from tems the process is more Arizona elections spokes-
and rolled out in time for gia recently piloted a sys- no-longer-existing compa- onerous. ES&S and Hart woman C. Murphy Hebert
primaries. tem running on Windows 7 nies that may run on even don't have federally certi- said ES&S has also assured
"That's a very serious con- that was praised by state older operating systems. fied systems on Windows the state that it will provide
cern," said J. Alex Hal- officials. Hart's system runs on a Win- 10, and the road to certi- support to counties for an
derman, a University of If Georgia selects a system dows version that reaches fication is long and costly, upgrade.q