11-year-old hacks replica of Florida state website, changes election results

[HomerJS]

Yet Republican are going to sit on their collective asses because they are virtually welcoming Russians to do it to us again. Bill Nelson in Florida tried to sound alarm that the Russians have penetrated some country systems in Florida yet the Republican Governor Ric Scott is suggesting Nelson is making it up.


https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...rida-election-site-changes-results/975121002/

 

[JSt0rm]

the russians only need hack key places.

 

[UglyCasanova]

The article is confusing. It said he hacked a website and changed results (I’m assuming only the reports it displays to the public, not the actual voter logs). But then it just jumps straight to this

In a statement, the National Association for Secretaries of State questioned the hacking village events, claiming they don't realistically portray a scenario where these machines could be accessed.

"Providing conference attendees with unlimited physical access to voting machines, most of which are no longer in use, does not replicate accurate physical and cyber protections established by state and local governments before and on Election Day," said NASS.​

We go from website to machines without kind of leading us into why it changed gears.

 

[HomerJS]

The Chairman and co-chairman of the Senate Intelligence committee have disclosed the Russians are already in the systems of some Florida counties. You don't think we have a hair on fire moment in our Democracy??

 

[sportage]

Yeah, no one will care until some democrat is elected.
THEN they will care.
Just imagine what Trump would do if that Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti ran against Donald Trump in 2020, AND THEN HE WON!
Do you think Donald Trump would really leave?
Would Donald Trump refuse to hand over the presidency?
Would Donald Trump call it all a hacked fake election and demand a new election?
And.... would Mitch McConnell agree, ignoring the election results, and ordering a new election, quote "IN THE NAME OF FAIRNESS"...?

Really want to see the shet hit the fan? Just have someone run against Donald Trump in 2020 and watch them win.
THEN, we will see the full extent of Trump insanity.
Trump would refuse to budge. Call it all faked. Insist he actually won.
How would Sarah Sanders spin THAT?
How would Rudy Giuliani defend THAT?
Stay tuned. 2020.
THIS could actually happen.

 

[darkswordsman17]

This article and what you're talking about OP aren't really the same thing. Hate to say it but UglyCassanova is actually right. That article is poorly written (and should get a title change if its going to be just about general election system hacking - which this story is only very tangentially related to).

Kid hacked some poorly done state government website providing the voter turnout. That's not to say it should be taken lightly and it is an issue itself (it can cause chaos on its own), but a very different thing than actually hacking a voting machine.

 

[ch33zw1z]

They give you full access to a box without any networking security, so that in itself makes the job easier. Anyways, that article is all over the place.

This stood out more than anything: "This is not the first time DefCon has tackled election security. Last year, it took attendees less than a day to successfully find and exploit flaws in five different types of voting machines."

 

[soulcougher73]

If an 11 year old can do this imagine what paid team of professionals can do. I wish they would just go back to paper voting. Something so important shouldnt be left to devices that appear pretty easy to hack.

 

[HomerJS]

If an 11 year old can do this imagine what paid team of professionals can do. I wish they would just go back to paper voting. Something so important shouldnt be left to devices that appear pretty easy to hack.

At a minimum paper as a backup. Also need more use of vote by mail.

The needs to be minimum standards set by the federal government but Republicans won't touch it as long as the Russians are helping them win elections.

 

[brandonbull]

If an 11 year old can do this imagine what paid team of professionals can do. I wish they would just go back to paper voting. Something so important shouldnt be left to devices that appear pretty easy to hack.

Somebody hacked a website and changed the appearance of it. Oh noes! Not an official website, didn't change actual votes, and didn't hack voting machines. What am I missing?

 

[HomerJS]

Somebody hacked a website and changed the appearance of it. Oh noes! Not an official website, didn't change actual votes, and didn't hack voting machines. What am I missing?

Russians stole voter data from multiple states. Oh noes!!

 

[brandonbull]

Russians stole voter data from multiple states. Oh noes!!

And? Not like that's the first time people's information has been stolen.

 

[soulcougher73]

Somebody hacked a website and changed the appearance of it. Oh noes! Not an official website, didn't change actual votes, and didn't hack voting machines. What am I missing?

Im just saying if an 11 year old can do all that. Imagine what real hacker can actually do.

 

[HomerJS]

Somebody hacked a website and changed the appearance of it. Oh noes! Not an official website, didn't change actual votes, and didn't hack voting machines. What am I missing?

Actually we don't know that. Never thoroughly investigated. Was there an audit done in every state, no.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Actually we don't know that. Never thoroughly investigated. Was there an audit done in every state, no.

In this case the kid didn't change anything but a website. But security really isn't important. Reps want hacker access and the Dems are perfectly amiable about the situation judging from their milquetoast responses in general.

While Avenatti would be a horrible choice for President, he has something right in that it's way past time for business as usual politics by the Dems. Once again get out, start rallies, take some lessons from what works for Reps without going the neo-nazi equivalent route. Getting off your ass and out with people is not for the opposition alone. Our horses are far too high and Dems are the only alternative to more and more corruption.

 

[Indus]

Yeah, no one will care until some democrat is elected.
THEN they will care.
Just imagine what Trump would do if that Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti ran against Donald Trump in 2020, AND THEN HE WON!
Do you think Donald Trump would really leave?
Would Donald Trump refuse to hand over the presidency?
Would Donald Trump call it all a hacked fake election and demand a new election?
And.... would Mitch McConnell agree, ignoring the election results, and ordering a new election, quote "IN THE NAME OF FAIRNESS"...?

Really want to see the shet hit the fan? Just have someone run against Donald Trump in 2020 and watch them win.
THEN, we will see the full extent of Trump insanity.
Trump would refuse to budge. Call it all faked. Insist he actually won.
How would Sarah Sanders spin THAT?
How would Rudy Giuliani defend THAT?
Stay tuned. 2020.
THIS could actually happen.

The only way it ends is the secret service dragging him out kicking and screaming.

 

[realibrad]

The only way it ends is the secret service dragging him out kicking and screaming.

You don't think he would leave if he lost the next election, or, wins and is termed?

 

[Indus]

You don't think he would leave if he lost the next election, or, wins and is termed?

No. He wants to be emperor for life.

 

[realibrad]

No. He wants to be emperor for life.

That might be a bit extreme. We will see.

 

[interchange]

The article is confusing. It said he hacked a website and changed results (I’m assuming only the reports it displays to the public, not the actual voter logs). But then it just jumps straight to this

In a statement, the National Association for Secretaries of State questioned the hacking village events, claiming they don't realistically portray a scenario where these machines could be accessed.

"Providing conference attendees with unlimited physical access to voting machines, most of which are no longer in use, does not replicate accurate physical and cyber protections established by state and local governments before and on Election Day," said NASS.​

We go from website to machines without kind of leading us into why it changed gears.

Right. I think it's a case of journalists not really understanding how these things work and meshing pieces of voting security research together to make a story. Unfortunately, we also can't assume we know what was actually done by hacker. But if it's just changing the results displayed on a static page without altering votes in any way, that's embarrassing but no real threat to election integrity. I also agree with the manufacturer statements where we really shouldn't be concerned about hacks that require physical access to a voting machines and only affect that specific machine. None of this of course really says anything definitive about our actual risk of votes being altered. Far easier is what we already know Russia to have done, and I think far more dangerous as well.

 

[zinfamous]

Is the 11 year-old really really fat and did he do it from his mother's basement?

Maybe Trump was right?

 

[1sikbITCH]

Yet Republican are going to sit on their collective asses because they are virtually welcoming Russians to do it to us again. Bill Nelson in Florida tried to sound alarm that the Russians have penetrated some country systems in Florida yet the Republican Governor Ric Scott is suggesting Nelson is making it up.


https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech...rida-election-site-changes-results/975121002/

I have the distinct impression that white conservatives are increasingly embracing Russia and are even counting on Russia's help again this cycle. Embrace might be too strong for a lot of GOP voters, but guaranteed there are no fucks given. Happy to have the help because lord knows it's better to be a commie than a Democrat as the saying goes.

 

[1sikbITCH]

Seems most of you only heard about this one kid.

Every year at this convention they set up all sorts of voting machines and let the public try to hack them.

This year they allowed kids as young as 8 years old to participate by hacking replicas of state election websites (not the machines). From the article:

On the first day of the event, 39 children tried to hack into the site replicas and 35 were able to do so in under half an hour. The fastest exploit was completed in under 10 minutes by an 11-year-old boy.

Luckily, even though most states can't secure their website from a toddler, there is no way professional crack teams like the IRA can hack the machines themselves, because.

 

[Jhhnn]

I have the distinct impression that white conservatives are increasingly embracing Russia and are even counting on Russia's help again this cycle. Embrace might be too strong for a lot of GOP voters, but guaranteed there are no fucks given. Happy to have the help because lord knows it's better to be a commie than a Democrat as the saying goes.

It's what happens when winning is everything.

 

[UglyCasanova]

But security really isn't important. Reps want hacker access and the Dems are perfectly amiable about the situation judging from their milquetoast responses in general.

My arguement in the tariff thread in a nutshell.