Article: 5 Measures to Harden Election Technology

Paper ballots, defense in depth, and hardware-level security are all key

Published in Dark Reading

By Ari Singer and Ives Brant

In this article, Part 2 of the two-part series, we look at concrete measures to make our election technology a harder target, even for the world’s best-resourced hackers.

Measure 1: Use single-purpose systems. Less complexity means better security. Voting machines should be purpose-built, capable of filling out ballots, but nothing else. They should support two key functions: voting, and secure device management. They should employ a secure boot process, either loading an OS and voting application or loading an environment that allows secure, verified updates. All commercial off-the-shelf operating systems and software should be locked down, to prevent access to physical interfaces (e.g., USB), network connections, and other interfaces. Read full article at Dark Reading