Electronic Voting Systems

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Electronic Voting Systems

• Diana Lopez
• Varun Sehgal
• Michael Chua

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Presentation Outline

• Introduction
• What is e-voting?
• Problem / Controversy
• Security Issues
• Social Issues
• Conclusion
• Proposed Solutions
• Research Thesis

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What is E-Voting?

• E-voting is an election system that allows a
  voter to record his or her secure and secret
  ballot electronically.

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DRE Voting System

• A DRE machine directly records the voters
  selections in each contest, using a ballot that
  appears on a display screen.

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Evolution of DREs

• They are divided into 3 types
• Similar to lever machines
• Display type
• Display type using touch screen

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Controversies Problems

• Voter Data Privacy/Security
• System Vulnerable to Intrusion
• Software Intrusion
• Hardware Intrusion
• No Verifiable Paper Trail

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Security Issues of DREs

• Attacks Divided into 2 groups
• Vote Tampering
• Multi-Cast
• Vote Stealing
• Denial-of-Service
• Denied Access
• Spoiled Data

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Security Issues of DREs (cont.)

• Common Exploits in Attack Patterns
• Smartcard/Memory Card
• Improper Handling/Securing of Data
• Poor System Design

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Vote Tampering

• Gaining Access to the Machine
• Duplicated or Stolen Smartcard
• Reprogramming Flash Memory
• Memory Card
• Learn Protocol or Code Injection
• Reverse Engineering Protocol
• Computer Virus or Buffer Overflow

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Denial-of-Service

• Gaining Access to the Machine
• Same as vote tampering
• Crash System
• Time/Date program trigger
• Corrupt Vote Data
• Same techniques as vote tampering

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Social Issues of E-Voting

• Why is it important?
• It is equally important as the technical side.
• Social aspects of e-voting is important because
  if in any election the machines do get hacked,
  they could trigger the elections and the outcome.
• It is the way society thinks about e-voting.
• People have started to be aware about the
  problem.

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Social Issues of E-Voting (cont.)

• Countries that use electronic voting machines
• - USA, UK, France, Germany, Australia,
  Netherlands, India, Brazil, Switzerland, Spain,
  Portugal, Norway, Ireland, Estonia, Canada,
  Belgium, Austria.

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Social Issues of E-Voting (cont.)

• Since so many countries have invested into
  e-voting, they are hesitant to drop it and go
  back to paper ballots.
• Its becoming more and more popular.
• It is the direction we are heading to.

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Possible Solutions

• Some theoretical solutions.
• Use open-source software
• Use voter-verifiable paper ballot
• Encrypted votes
• Parallel testing
• Legislation

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Use Open-Source Software

• Some experts believe that the code should be
  available for public inspection.
• It will undergo thorough inspection.
• Maybe, some security flaws can be fixed by this
  method.

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Voter-Verifiable Paper Ballot

• The computer would print a paper ballot.
• Voter would then verify that the ballot
  accurately reflected the voters choice made on
  the DRE machine.
• This way, no votes will be improperly changed.
• Disadvantage Show your receipt that you voted
  for X candidate, and here is your free gift.

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Encrypted Votes

• Votes will be independently recorded on an
  independent machine other than the DRE.
• This way a recount can be done to make sure the
  votes recorded on the DRE were accurate or not.
• The recount will be faster than the paper ballot
  verification.

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Parallel Testing

• Parallel testing is when election officials take
  some DRE machines and set them aside during an
  election.
• All day, they cast votes simultaneously and at
  the end of the day, they tally their votes.

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Legislation

• Funding for research to improve DRE machines.
• Adding more requirements for the DRE machines in
  order for it to be used in elections.
• Legislative solution may be more useful if
  controversy is not resolved by other means.

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Our Own Solution

• Because everything is so secret, no one really
  knows how they are implementing the solutions.
• Since it is theoretical, there really isnt a
  significant solution to the problem.
• OUR SOLUTION is to use the seven touchpoints of
  software security.

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Conclusion

• Should e-voting be used or not?
• There are many advantages to e-voting but the
  problems with the systems overrule the
  advantages.
• E-voting machines are unreliable.
• Even with all the security problems there is a
  growing trend among countries to invest more into
  e-voting machines.

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Conclusion

• Ireland Stopped using them unless machines are
  upgraded.
• France considering.
• This could also be a trend about to begin.
• Countries might start going back to paper
  ballots.
• UNLESS WE FIX THE PROBLEMS RELATED TO E-VOTING
  MACHINES!