HBO Documentary "Hacking Democracy" - GoFuckYourself.com

Flow · 11-05-2006, 07:27 PM

Saw it this morning on HBO. I must say it was very good and shocking to say the least how easy it is to completely rig a national election. I would recommend it to everbody who has the time to watch it. here is the schedule:

http://www.hbo.com/apps/schedule/Sch...US_ID=6332 58

::::SPOILER BELOW - NOT FOR THOSE THAT WANT TO WATCH IT::::::::::

Basically, this chick was doing research on the Diebold software, the people that make about 30-40% of the electronic voting machines. She does a google search for Diebold and comes across the Diebold FTP site that somebody left wide open (she was a journalist or something with limited computer skills so she did not hack into the FTL site). She downloaded and kept copies all of the code and programs used in these voting machines. Then she gives the code to some computer experts and has them see what they can see. It is filled with MAJOR security flaws. The two companies who were responsible to check the software for flaws did not check for security loop holes AT ALL!

After spending time trying to compare the actual vote tape signed by the election officials from several locations to the published resultsm they find they don't match.

Later, she and her team does a test at a Florida voting place, where they have a hacker put an executable code on the Disk they use to store the votes. They discover that some of these access card disks, that are suppose to be blank and have no .exe files on them, but they do in fact have .exe codes on them. These .exe files have the ablity to keep the number of votes the same but alter who gets how many votes (i.e. if 10 votes come in, make sure XYZ gets 7 of those votes regardless of how that person voted).

They also go to show that a person can access a file on their computer, make a few minor number changes, and the vote results are completely altered without a trace that access has been made to the files in the access logs.

At the end, the ladies team puts a .exe code on one of the official voter access cards from Florida (that is not suppose to be able to accept .exe code), then they run 10 sample ballots through a randomly selected voting machine in Florida. The ballots have 2 yes votes and 6 no votes to a simple questions on an official ballot form and after they run the ballots through the machine and close it out, the voting machine spits out 7 yes votes and 1 no vote on the printed results.

babymaker · 11-05-2006, 07:31 PM

they could and did it before with old technology too, my xGF worked the local elections and the would "lock the levers" was the term she used some kind of technique that was easy to push a vote to the right candidate, based on exit polls i.e. if the one whos supposed to win is down on exit by 2% the shave for a bit with locked levers til he/she is up a few

it was well known.

babymaker · 11-05-2006, 07:32 PM

p.s, is this up on torrents or rapidshare yet, i want to watch :D

Pleasurepays · 11-05-2006, 07:37 PM

this is sort of what The Man of the Year was about with Robin Williams. Fuckers. the movie wasnt even a comedy at all.

Kimo · 11-05-2006, 07:49 PM

that looks interesting

11-05-2006, 07:27 PM	#1
Flow Confirmed User Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 518	HBO Documentary "Hacking Democracy" Saw it this morning on HBO. I must say it was very good and shocking to say the least how easy it is to completely rig a national election. I would recommend it to everbody who has the time to watch it. here is the schedule: http://www.hbo.com/apps/schedule/Sch...US_ID=6332 58 ::::SPOILER BELOW - NOT FOR THOSE THAT WANT TO WATCH IT:::::::::: Basically, this chick was doing research on the Diebold software, the people that make about 30-40% of the electronic voting machines. She does a google search for Diebold and comes across the Diebold FTP site that somebody left wide open (she was a journalist or something with limited computer skills so she did not hack into the FTL site). She downloaded and kept copies all of the code and programs used in these voting machines. Then she gives the code to some computer experts and has them see what they can see. It is filled with MAJOR security flaws. The two companies who were responsible to check the software for flaws did not check for security loop holes AT ALL! After spending time trying to compare the actual vote tape signed by the election officials from several locations to the published resultsm they find they don't match. Later, she and her team does a test at a Florida voting place, where they have a hacker put an executable code on the Disk they use to store the votes. They discover that some of these access card disks, that are suppose to be blank and have no .exe files on them, but they do in fact have .exe codes on them. These .exe files have the ablity to keep the number of votes the same but alter who gets how many votes (i.e. if 10 votes come in, make sure XYZ gets 7 of those votes regardless of how that person voted). They also go to show that a person can access a file on their computer, make a few minor number changes, and the vote results are completely altered without a trace that access has been made to the files in the access logs. At the end, the ladies team puts a .exe code on one of the official voter access cards from Florida (that is not suppose to be able to accept .exe code), then they run 10 sample ballots through a randomly selected voting machine in Florida. The ballots have 2 yes votes and 6 no votes to a simple questions on an official ballot form and after they run the ballots through the machine and close it out, the voting machine spits out 7 yes votes and 1 no vote on the printed results.

11-05-2006, 07:31 PM	#2
babymaker Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: philly Posts: 4,751	they could and did it before with old technology too, my xGF worked the local elections and the would "lock the levers" was the term she used some kind of technique that was easy to push a vote to the right candidate, based on exit polls i.e. if the one whos supposed to win is down on exit by 2% the shave for a bit with locked levers til he/she is up a few it was well known. __________________ $99mo Hosted CMS From ElevatedX! ICQ 293125596

11-05-2006, 07:32 PM	#3
babymaker Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: philly Posts: 4,751	p.s, is this up on torrents or rapidshare yet, i want to watch :D __________________ $99mo Hosted CMS From ElevatedX! ICQ 293125596

11-05-2006, 07:49 PM	#5
Kimo ... Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Maryland ICQ:87038677 Posts: 11,542	that looks interesting __________________ ...

11-05-2006, 07:37 PM	#4
Pleasurepays BANNED - SUPPORTING TUBES Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: I live in a pile of boogers Posts: 11,913	this is sort of what The Man of the Year was about with Robin Williams. Fuckers. the movie wasnt even a comedy at all.