"There's an ambition that this demonstration will not have vulnerabilities comparable to what's in the room," Joe Kiniry, a principal scientist at Galois, said in an interview. But even if hackers do find vulnerabilities with the prototype, which its creators expect to happen, it's a win-win. While in both years that the Voting Village has existed, hackers were able to find vulnerabilities, Galois is aiming to bring the first voting machine that hackers at Defcon can't crack. Since then, Galois has also worked with Microsoft to develop ElectionGuard, software for voting machines to verify ballots. The project is headed by Galois, a government contractor that DARPA awarded in March. Lawmakers at the Voting Village will be able to see a prototype of a $10 million DARPA-funded open source voting machine, designed to prevent hackers from tampering with people's votes. I'm looking forward to returning to the conference this year to keep the lines of communication open." A new machine "I know firsthand the incredible value and knowledge the Defcon community can offer to policymakers. "I became one of the first members of Congress to attend Defcon when I spoke two years ago about how security researchers have shaped my work," Langevin said in a statement. Jim Langevin, a Democrat from Rhode Island, will also be at the hacking convention to learn how policymakers can affect future legislation on cybersecurity. Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California and Rep. The outreach could potentially affect proposed legislation that would keep cities, elections and devices secure for years to come. This is the first year that Defcon has volunteers specifically to help politicians integrate with hackers and learn about issues in cybersecurity. "The overwhelming interest we are seeing from government leaders demonstrates that securing our democracy is a national security priority and we need policy solutions that address the concerns brought to light each year by this Village," Voting Village co-founder Harri Hursti said in a statement. There, hackers and election security experts will have an opportunity to explain to lawmakers what policies are needed to keep voters safe from hackers. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, will also be at the Voting Village at the hacker conference. This comes after former special counsel Robert Mueller warned Congress last month that Russia would continue its efforts to hack US elections, telling lawmakers, "They're doing it as we sit here."Īlong with Wyden, Rep. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, blocked two election security bills in July, calling it "partisan legislation." "The success of the Voting Village - in which public demonstrations of voting machine flaws by hackers at Defcon quickly convinced officials in Virginia to promptly move to paper-based voting systems - is a prime example of how the computer security community has positively impacted public policy and protected our national security."ĭespite those efforts, Congress hasn't been able to pass an election security bill. "White hat hackers do an invaluable public service in this technologic age by identifying security holes and, if necessary, shaming the government or the companies responsible into fixing them," Wyden said in a statement. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, have proposed legislation to improve election security to make sure these vulnerabilities wouldn't affect future voters. While there's no evidence that any votes were tampered with during the 2016 election, hackers have shown plenty of proof that the voting machines being used are vulnerable to attacks. In states such as Illinois and Florida, they were successful. A Senate Intelligence Committee report released in late July detailed how the hackers likely targeted election systems in all 50 states. Many lawmakers have wanted to pass an election security bill since the race for the White House in 2016, when Russian hackers interfered with the election. With the 2020 US presidential election quickly approaching, lawmakers who want to fix those vulnerabilities are heading to the Las Vegas hacking conference, which starts Thursday, to see them in person. For two years in a row, hackers at Defcon have demonstrated that voting machines currently in use in US elections have serious security issues.
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