Vulnerabilities in online voting systems could mean a single email sent by a hacker has the power to change an election result, according to a report by the US Technology Policy Council at the ACM, an association of computer experts. It said elections could be tampered with using malware or intercepted data in a way that was completely untraceable, while electronic voting machines face a similar problem. The report, which is based on research from researchers and security experts, says hackers can use vulnerabilities such as those found in software used for online voter registration systems, known as e-poll books, to alter vote counts.
Vulnerabilities in online voting systems could mean a single email sent by a hacker has the power to change an election result, according to a report by the US Technology Policy Council at the ACM, an association of computer experts. It said elections could be tampered with using malware or intercepted data in a way that was completely untraceable, while electronic voting machines face a similar problem. Online voting could not be made safe with current technology, it claimed, and cited how countries such as France are returning to paper systems to minimise the danger from cybersecurity breaches.