I don't want this to get political, even though I know it is right on the line. You guys are the most tech-savvy group I'm a member of, so I thought I'd look for some education.
I've gotten into a debate with some friends over voting machines. I say that, all politics aside, it is probably technically possible for someone with enough time, money, and skill to manipulate the machines. I am not making any statements as to whether that happened or not in the recent US election. My view is that even if the machines aren't supposed to be connected to the internet, there's probably plenty of chinks in the armor of the companies that build these things that a determined bad guy could exploit, whether through electronic hacking or social engineering. There's even articles of voting districts leaving machines plugged into the internet after receiving updates. I'm told this is a complete bonkers conspiracy theory. I argue back that nobody would have guessed the SolarWinds/Fireye attack could be as bad as it was, and it went undetected for a long time. If something like that is possible, why isn't it at least theoretically possible that electronic voting machines could be manipulated? I realize one of the basic answers is that there's also paper ballots and the counts need to match, but I'm more looking at it from the electronic hacking/manipulation side.
Again, not looking for a political discussion, I'm just curious if it is technically possible/impossible.
I've gotten into a debate with some friends over voting machines. I say that, all politics aside, it is probably technically possible for someone with enough time, money, and skill to manipulate the machines. I am not making any statements as to whether that happened or not in the recent US election. My view is that even if the machines aren't supposed to be connected to the internet, there's probably plenty of chinks in the armor of the companies that build these things that a determined bad guy could exploit, whether through electronic hacking or social engineering. There's even articles of voting districts leaving machines plugged into the internet after receiving updates. I'm told this is a complete bonkers conspiracy theory. I argue back that nobody would have guessed the SolarWinds/Fireye attack could be as bad as it was, and it went undetected for a long time. If something like that is possible, why isn't it at least theoretically possible that electronic voting machines could be manipulated? I realize one of the basic answers is that there's also paper ballots and the counts need to match, but I'm more looking at it from the electronic hacking/manipulation side.
Again, not looking for a political discussion, I'm just curious if it is technically possible/impossible.