3 ms·

I was including the OS in the stack. Is there any reason why vote-casting or vote-tallying software should be running on a fully-fledged OS? It introduces a mas

by ecdavis 12y ago

I was including the OS in the stack. Is there any reason why vote-casting or vote-tallying software should be running on a fully-fledged OS? It introduces a massive attack surface in exchange for a benefit that is really only felt at development time (development ease and cost). Write something custom, get it formally validated, audited, etc. and then go through a similar process to ensure the hardware is trustworthy. Of course that won't happen. The only real reason to move to electronic voting is to save money, but that's rendered moot if you have to invest a huge amount upfront just to get something trustworthy.

badsock 12y ago
Right. Given the number of countries and companies and people that are involved as you move up the chain from transistor to application, how complex even the smallest stack is, and how many opportunities there are for inserting code at every level - the effort it would take to do a full audit, and then to prove that it's uncrackable from external sources - it's not even remotely realistic. Again, I can't figure out why anyone takes the assertion that electronic voting can be secured seriously.