E-Voting Machines are Easily Breached, Study Says

E-Voting Machines are Easily Breached, Study Says

According to a report released by Princeton University, e-voting machines are highly unreliable and prone to attacks.


The report was requested by a New Jersey judge as part of a continuing legal battle over the machines. It detailed the possibility of data breach which can be easily done in about 7 minutes by anyone who has basic computer skills. Hacking attacks which could be employed in the machine include enabling a bogus firmware to filch votes from candidates.



The US presidential election will be deploying Sequoia AVC Advantage 9.00H direct-recording electronic (DRE) touch-screen voting machines which sparked questions as stories emerged from at least three states about its vulnerability to hacking attacks. Voters from the three states, West Virginia, Texas and Tennessee, claimed that the e-voting machine they used tried to transfer their votes to another candidate.



The report also identified ways that could be exploited by hackers to change the result of the election. It firmly opposes the designs and security of the devices as they could be easily manipulated by unauthorized individuals without being detected.