[PRINT this page]
[E-MAIL a friend]
[send us feedback]
[home]
[link]
Alarming Security Flaws In Diebold Voting Systems
excerpts from a report by Brad Friedman. September 15, 2005
A "Diebold Insider" is speaking out for the first time about the alarming security flaws within Diebold, Inc's electronic voting systems, software and machinery. The source is acknowledging that the company's "upper management" -- as well as "top government officials" -- were keenly aware of the "undocumented backdoor" in Diebold's main "GEM Central Tabulator" software well prior to the 2004 election. A branch of the Federal Government even posted a security warning on the Internet.
Pointing to a "Cyber Security Alert" issued by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the source inside Diebold is charging that Diebold's technicians, including at least one of its lead programmers, knew about the security flaw and that the company instructed them to keep quiet about it.
"Diebold threatened violators with immediate dismissal," the insider explained recently. "In 2005, after one newly hired member of Diebold's technical staff pointed out the security flaw, he was criticized and isolated."
Our source confirmed that the matters were well known within the company, but that a "culture of fear" had been developed to assure that employees, including technicians, vendors and programmers kept those issues to themselves.
We asked our source for evidence that the security flaw described by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security was actually exploited in the 2004 election. The source told us only: "I wouldn't say I have evidence that it was exploited....only that it was known. To the feds, to state officials and to Diebold. They all knew. In spite of the gap they moved forward as normal...As if it didn't exist."
You have been reading excerpts from "* EXCLUSIVE! * A DIEBOLD INSIDER SPEAKS!" by Brad Friedman. You can read the entire piece here: tinyurl.com/a822g. Thanks to BradBlog.com. We visit often and we hope you will too.
excerpts from a report by Brad Friedman. September 15, 2005
A "Diebold Insider" is speaking out for the first time about the alarming security flaws within Diebold, Inc's electronic voting systems, software and machinery. The source is acknowledging that the company's "upper management" -- as well as "top government officials" -- were keenly aware of the "undocumented backdoor" in Diebold's main "GEM Central Tabulator" software well prior to the 2004 election. A branch of the Federal Government even posted a security warning on the Internet.
Pointing to a "Cyber Security Alert" issued by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the source inside Diebold is charging that Diebold's technicians, including at least one of its lead programmers, knew about the security flaw and that the company instructed them to keep quiet about it.
"Diebold threatened violators with immediate dismissal," the insider explained recently. "In 2005, after one newly hired member of Diebold's technical staff pointed out the security flaw, he was criticized and isolated."
Our source confirmed that the matters were well known within the company, but that a "culture of fear" had been developed to assure that employees, including technicians, vendors and programmers kept those issues to themselves.
We asked our source for evidence that the security flaw described by the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security was actually exploited in the 2004 election. The source told us only: "I wouldn't say I have evidence that it was exploited....only that it was known. To the feds, to state officials and to Diebold. They all knew. In spite of the gap they moved forward as normal...As if it didn't exist."
You have been reading excerpts from "* EXCLUSIVE! * A DIEBOLD INSIDER SPEAKS!" by Brad Friedman. You can read the entire piece here: tinyurl.com/a822g. Thanks to BradBlog.com. We visit often and we hope you will too.
