[NEWS] Top voting machine maker reverses position on election security, promises paper ballots – Loganspace

Vote casting machine maker ES&S has stated it “will no longer promote” paperless voting machines because the major tool for casting ballots in a jurisdiction.

ES&S chief executive Tom Burt confirmed the newsin an op-ed.

TechCrunch understands the resolution used to be made round the time that four senior Democratic lawmakersdemanded to knowwhy ES&S, and two assorted major voting machine makers, had been peaceful selling decade-old machines known to dangle safety flaws.

Burt’s op-ed stated voting machines “must like bodily paper records of votes” to prevent mistakes or tampering that may perhaps perhaps perchance lead to improperly solid votes. Sen. Ron Wyden supplied a invoicea 300 and sixty five days agothat may perhaps perhaps well mandate voter-verified paper ballots for all election machines.

The chief executive repeatedly known as on Congress to poke legislation mandating a stronger election machine making an strive out program.

Burt’s remarks are a though-provoking turnaround from the company’s situation true a 300 and sixty five days ago, by which the election programs maker drew ire from the protection community for denouncing vulnerabilities discovered by hackersat the annual Defcon convention.

Security researchers at the convention’s Vote casting Village discovered a security flaw in an old however broadly frail voting machine in dozens of states. Their findings introduced ona response by senior lawmakerson the Senate Intelligence Committee, who stated that fair making an strive out “is with out doubt one of the best ways to sign and deal with skill cybersecurity risks.”

But ES&S disagreed. In a letter firing assist, Burt stated he believed “exposing technology in most of those environments makes hacking elections more straightforward, no longer more durable, and we suspect that our adversaries are paying very discontinuance attention.”

Days later, NSA cybersecurity chief Opt Joyce criticized the response. “Lack of information of insecurity would no longer receive you safety,” hetweeted. “The investigation of those devices by the hacker community is a carrier, no longer a menace.”

Though surprising, election safety specialists like in general applauded ES&S’ shift in situation.

Matt Blaze, a cryptography and laptop science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, statedin a tweethe used to be “truly cheerful” the company is calling for paper ballots and principal safety making an strive out.

“Expectantly they’ll also discontinuance threatening to sue folk fancy me and the Defcon Vote casting Village when we gaze and tale on their equipment and system,” he stated. Blaze, who co-basically based the Vote casting Village, facedethical stressfrom ES&S at the time. The election safety specialists spoke back to the “vague and unsupportable threats” by accusing the voting machine maker of “discouraging” researchers from examining its machines “at a time when there may perhaps be major problem referring to the integrity of our election system.”

An ES&S spokesperson did no longer reply to a seek records from for comment by TechCrunch over the weekend.

Read more:

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• Attach of dwelling of initiating Security hasn’t performed sufficient to guard election infrastructure, says watchdog
• Senators seek records from to know why election vendors peaceful promote voting machines with ‘known vulnerabilities’
• Hacking the websites to blame for election records is so straightforward an 11-300 and sixty five days-old did it