So maybe it was China? Russia? Israel? Whichever "entity" it was, the point, at this euphoric post-election moment, is that computer systems can be hacked by anyone--and, therefore, that the way we vote is actually a matter of national security.
And the solution certainly is not to try to build some huge "defensive" cyber-force to keep our ballots "safe." Such a military model would cost billions, pose yet one more threat to common liberty--and not work anyway. The solution, rather, is to junk the DRE's and op-scans, the electronic voter rolls and central tabulators, and move on to hand-counted paper ballots. MCM 'Foreign entity' staged cyber attack on both campaigns <http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Foreign_entity_staged_cyber_attack_on_1106.html>11/06/2008 @ 7:19 pm Filed by Agence France-Presse http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Foreign_entity_staged_cyber_attack_on_1106.html WASHINGTON (AFP) - The computer systems of US presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain were targeted by hackers this summer from an unknown "foreign entity," Newsweek magazine reported on Thursday. Newsweek said a federal investigation was opened after the campaigns were "victims of a sophisticated cyber attack." "FBI and White House officials told the Obama campaign that they believed that a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps' policy issues -- information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration," Newsweek said. "Obama technical experts later speculated that the hackers were Russian or Chinese," the magazine said, adding that the FBI had assured the Obama team that the attack had not been carried out by its political opponents. Newsweek said technology experts at the Obama headquarters discovered the cyber attack in midsummer and initially thought it was a computer virus. But the FBI and Secret Service warned them the system had been compromised and a "serious amount of files" had been stolen. They said the McCain campaign's computer system had been similarly compromised. Newsweek said the Obama campaign retained a security firm following the attack and ended the intrusion. Obama defeated McCain in Tuesday's election and is to be sworn in as president on January 20, 2009. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
