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Jurisdictions in California Run Successful Elections
Using Hart InterCivic Election Technology
published July 30, 2007
Hart InterCivic today testified to the California Secretary
of State that the Hart Voting System is safe, secure and accurate, in response
to her office's findings in a top-to-bottom review of voting systems used in
California.
"Election security is about People, Processes,
Procedures, Policies, and Technology," said Neil McClure, chief technology
officer for Hart InterCivic, a leading national provider of elections systems.
"The procedures and processes must be implemented, and followed, along
with the system’s technical security features. We continually work to improve
security, both through technology and through working with our customers on
processes and procedures."
The Secretary of State's Red Team report only examined
technology vulnerabilities when given unfettered access in a laboratory setting
to all technical documentation and source code information of the voting
systems being tested. The report states that the Red Team did not ‘make
assumptions about compensating controls or procedural mitigation measures that
the vendor, the Secretary of State, or individual counties may have adopted.’
A better approach, said McClure, would be to define a
realistic threat that faces all layers of security in an election.
"A threat model is not just about technology but
includes other system relevant elements, such as the operating environment,
characteristics of typical users, functional requirements, motivation of
attackers to name a few," McClure said.
In real-world election environments, the Hart Voting System
is used successfully by over 300 customers throughout eleven states:
California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Two of the nation's largest voting
jurisdictions – Harris County, Texas, and Orange County, Calif., have adopted
electronic voting using Hart technology.
"We have found several inconsistencies, alternate
conclusions, omissions and errors in the report. It is critical that these
items be addressed before any action is taken based on the report," said
McClure. "It was disappointing, and a disservice to the public, that none
of the well-designed security aspects of the Hart Voting System were
acknowledged in the report."
McClure cited an example in the Red Team report that a
device can force the system to issue voting access codes, which is analogous to
issuing a blank paper ballot. The time and skill needed to attach a device and
to overcome physical and procedural security measures would make casting extra
electronic ballots much less likely than stealing extra paper ballots.
Additionally, the report neglected to state that security features in the Hart
Voting System would prevent the extra access codes from activating before
printing, which would alert the poll worker to a problem.
In another example, the Red Team did not take into account
the fact that the Hart Voting System has three duplicate originals of the Cast
Vote Records in three independent storage locations. An attacker would have to
attain access to and modify all three original records identically, in addition
to the paper VVPAT record, in order for a successful attack to take place.
"This report is an important tool, but must be used
responsibly. We look forward to continuing to work with the Red Team to address
the unresolved open issues in the report. We are interested in continually
improving our system and an excellent source of input is from third-party,
independent reviewers." McClure said.
The full text of McClure's testimony is now available -
click here.
About Us
Hart InterCivic is a leading national technology and
services provider for state and local government election, records management,
and now GIS-integrated database solutions. Nearly a century ago, Hart
InterCivic started as a company focused on printing forms for local governments
in Texas. The company has evolved into a leader in software and service
solutions for the public sector. Hart's business values are centered on
heritage, integrity, reliability and personalized customer service. A recipient
of the Samaritan Center Ethics in Business Award, Hart InterCivic is a
privately held corporation based in Austin, Texas.
Contact Information
Josh Allen
(512) 589-8064
joshallen@austin.rr.com
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