Fwd: [FWD: | 04.02.12 | Internet voting not ready, says DHS official]

Actually its not DHS saying this - but someone from NIST who advises DHS
on security matters.

I'm sure that is probably going to cause a retraction / clarification of sorts - but then

its not so juicy a press copy headline of course!

See also the link to State level voter registration woes - this is another potential

focus area for EML v7.0 use - that Pew is certainly aware of.

DW

-------- Original Message ---

       If you are unable to see the message below, click here to view.
 
  
   
  
   

 April 2, 2012
 Sign up for free:
 Subscribe | Web | Mobile
 Refer FierceGovernmentIT to a Colleague
  
  

 
Today's Top Stories
 1. Internet voting not ready for elections, says DHS official
 2. DoD spending on major ERPs to go slightly down
 3. Army: WIN-T to be IOC in May 2013
 4. White House highlights big data innovation
 5. IT modernization has a way to go at HUD
 
Follow @fiercegov on Twitter
 
Also Noted: NASCIO
 British government wants to surveill the Internet; OMB introduces 'PortfolioStat' for managing IT projects; and much more...
 
More News From the FierceGovernment Network:
 1. VA to roll out early version of iEHR in 2014
 2. Polar satellite gap will degrade weather forecasting
 3. What federal officials want from cybersecurity legislation
 
 
  
   
  

Today's Top News
    
1. Internet voting not ready for elections, says DHS official
  
  By David Perera  Comment |  Forward | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn 
  
  
  
 
Unresolved technological problems means Internet voting should not yet be deployed to U.S. elections, a Homeland Security Department cybersecurity official told a conference of election officials and watchdogs.
 
“It’s definitely premature to deploy Internet voting in real elections,” said Bruce McConnell, a senior cybersecurity counselor, speaking before the Election Verification Network conference in Santa Fe, N.M. on March 29.
 
“The security infrastructure around Internet voting is both immature and under-resourced,” McConnell told the audience, citing National Institute of Standards and Technology internal reports that summarize technical research on particular subjects.
 
NISTIR 7770 (.pdf), which addresses security considerations of remote electronic voting, states that “achieving a very strict notion of ballot secrecy remains a challenging issue in remote electronic voting systems,’” McConnell noted.
 
“In Washington, one learns to read sentences like this,” he added, stating that in the nuance-heavy speak of the nation’s capital, “this is actually a strong statement.”
 
The same document also states that “unlike some of the other topic areas described in this document, many of the security challenges associated with identification and authentication of users and voters have commercially-available technical solutions.”
 
The phrase “unlike some of the other topic areas” implies that challenges in Internet voting other than identification and authentication lack commercially-available solutions, McConnell said.
 
When it comes to end-to-end cryptographic voting techniques, the NISTIR states that they are “are largely still an academic effort.”
 
Again, in a typical Washington fashion, “they’re not drawing the conclusion, but they’re laying the predicate,” McConnell said.
 
For more:
 - listen to McConnell’s conference speech (posted online at Common Cause)
 - download NISTIR 7770 (.pdf)
 

Related Articles:Voter rolls beset with inaccuracies 
 Denial of service attack mars Canadian party balloting 
 Online banking not a model for Internet voting, says Elections B.C.
 
 
Read more about: DHS, Bruce McConnell
 back to top
  
  
   
 This week's sponsor is AFCEA. 
 
  
 
  
Join AFCEA Bethesda and a panel of CTOs as they discuss how new budgets and technologies are changing their role
  
  
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
  Also Noted  
 This week's sponsor is NASCIO. 
 
  
  
 
 
> OMB introduces “PortfolioStat” for managing IT projects. Article (FCW)
 > McCain could stall OSD nominations. Article (DoDBuzz)
 > DARPA plans to put $80 million toward microprocessor research. Article (InfoWeek)
 > British government wants to surveill the Internet. Article (The Guardian)
 > Clarke: All Chinese-made electronics could be compromised. Article (Gizmodo)
 > State utility commissioners want the FCC to regulate unused phone numbers. Article (The Hill)
 
And Finally… Even the Google News algorithm gets pranked on April fool’s day. Article (NY Daily News)