ReBunked? Politico Warns Of ‘Hackable’ Voting Equipment

After claiming the 2016 election was ‘hacked’ and ‘stolen’ – then insisting that 2020 ‘election deniers’ are a threat to democracy, left-wing outlet Politico is now warning that surprise, election machines can be hacked!

“[T]here are real risks that hackers could tunnel into voting equipment and other election infrastructure to try to undermine Tuesday’s vote,” according to a Monday report.

The 2020 presidential election was rife with allegations of voting machine hacks that were later debunked.

Yet there are real risks that hackers could tunnel into voting equipment and other election infrastructure to try to undermine Tuesday’s vote.https://t.co/kDij1J08eU

— POLITICO (@politico) November 7, 2022

Politico is quick to hedge – suggesting that safeguards on voting equipment means “any actual hack would probably be localized, quickly detected and unlikely to affect final results,” but that “even an attempt to change votes – or the mere allegation of tampering – could undermine faith in the outcome.”

Meanwhile, US officials warn of threats from “multiple groups and countries.”

The U.S. officials charged with protecting election security say they’re watching for threats from multiple groups and countries. And in recent months, social media companies and cybersecurity researchers have identified Chinese influence operations aimed at the elections. -Politico

And there it is. ‘It’s not a red wave, it’s a red hack!’

“More attention to securing voting systems hasn’t eliminated critical technical and human threats to our elections,” Matthew Weil, executive director of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Democracy Program, told the outlet. “And this cycle is practice for 2024.”

The Biden administration is on board with the narrative.

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly recently told reporters that “The current election threat environment is more complex than it has ever been,” citing threats ranging from cyberattacks to disinformation, to harassment of election officials.

Meanwhile, cybersecurity units from the National Guard will be on hand in 14 states to help ‘counter any threats to election officials’ networks ahead of, during, and following the Nov. 8 elections.’

The 14 include battleground states Arizona, Iowa, and Pennsylvania, as well as Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, New Mexico, New York, Washington, and West Virginia, Politico reported.

Brig. Gen. Gent Welsh, the commander of the Washington Air National Guard, said at a virtual media briefing on Nov. 4 that not every state is doing it, but states that are activating these units “have invested in cyber talent and cyber missions for years,” according to outlet Statescoop, which reports on technology-related news in government.

“If you don’t have a cyber unit in your state, you’re not in a good position to help them protect elections,” Welsh said. –Epoch Times

Here’s Politico‘s list of six election security threats to watch for.

Mis- and disinformation (like the Russia hoax?)

Lies and conspiracy theories about the security of election systems are what most worry election supervisors and federal cybersecurity and intelligence officials, because those falsehoods can inflame mistrust that discourages people from voting and provoke anger that spurs people to threaten violence against election administrators. -Politico

Crashing election office and campaign websites

Hackers have one relatively low-tech tool for knocking campaigns off balance and disrupting voters’ access to reliable election information: forcing websites to crash using automated tools that simulate massive floods of people visiting those sites.

Campaign social media account hijacking

Hackers could take over candidates’ or campaigns’ social media accounts on Election Day and make inflammatory comments designed to alienate voters or spread false information about how or when to vote. These impersonation schemes could fuel distrust of the election process and knock campaigns off balance in the home stretch of the contest.

Cyberattacks on voter registration databases

States have spent years upgrading the security of their voter registration databases, which form the bedrock of a well-functioning election system. But no technology is perfectly secure, and vulnerabilities likely remain in some states’ networks. Russian hackers breached Illinois’ voter database in 2016, and Iranian hackers penetrated a state database in 2020.

Targeted voter harassment

 This relatively novel threat represents an evolution in how foreign governments use hacking campaigns to meddle in U.S. elections. After stealing voter records from a state election database in 2020, Iranian operatives threatened those voters with unspecified consequences if they didn’t vote to reelect then-President Donald Trump. The messages, which contained false allegations of vulnerabilities in election technology, were designed to look like they came from the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group.

And lastly… Wireless modems enabling hacks of voting machines or vote tallies

At least seven states and Washington, D.C., use wireless modems to transmit unofficial election-night results to their central offices. These modems use telecommunications networks that are vulnerable to hackers, and malicious actors could exploit them to tamper with unofficial vote data, corrupt voting machines or compromise the computers used to tally official results.

“We now have to worry about anybody getting access to a communication network that is fundamentally open,” Matt Blaze, a Georgetown University computer science and law professor who studies voting systems, told POLITICO last month.

These attacks are much more difficult and time-consuming — and thus much less likely to occur — than spreading falsehoods on social media or temporarily taking down websites. And states that use paper ballots and post-election audits would likely catch and correct erroneous results.

Even so, temporarily incorrect information could fuel doubts about results, especially if the hackers bragged about their accomplishments. And if subsequent audits that correct digital tampering dramatically change vote tallies, bad-faith actors might seize on those changes to falsely allege fraud.

*  *  *

And there you have it, the election might be fraudulent – but you know, ‘it’s okay when we say it.’