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The Security of Our Election Systems

schneier.com

31–40 of 89 posts

Re: The Security of Our Election Systems

#31

I think you would be quite silly to just outright accept intelligence agency declarations of "it was Russia". As history shows, not only are these people frequently ignorant to technical realities, but political reasons at every single layer of these organizations obscure and pervade the truth.

Of course it's not just intelligence agencies saying this. There's plenty of independent investigations [0] and they are pointing the same direction. There's the metadata on the leaked files indicating that at least the metadata was modified with a cyrillic computer. There's reports from two separate security firms implicating the same two Russian based actors. There's the fact that "Guccifier 2.0" had no online pres…

I think this a good article explaining why there is not enough evidence in the public linking the DNC hack to Russian secret service:

https://medium.com/@jeffreycarr/can-facts-slow-the-dnc-breac...

The IP-address (176.31.112.10) that links the DNC hack to the Bundestag hack is a machine in France (appearantly) controlled by a Pakistani hosting company. This article says the machine was closed because of abuse over a year ago. The material in the DNC hack is just one month old:

https://netzpolitik.org/2015/digital-attack-on-german-parlia...

Re: The Security of Our Election Systems

#33
post #4

There's a strong moral argument in favor of the DNC leaks: the American people ought to know that its political process was corrupted by powerful actors within its own institutions. Schneier said, "This kind of cyberattack targets the very core of our democratic process. " In this case, though, the attack targeted actors who prevented democratic process. Were we exposed to fictitious narratives intended to advance pr…

> Schneier said, "This kind of cyberattack targets the very core of our democratic process. " In this case, though, the attack targeted actors who prevented democratic process. Parties choose their candidates. While it is democratic in the sense that people cast ballots; the process was never guaranteed to be a level playing field. Sanders was an outsider from the democratic party. The party has rules and systems to…

The process was guaranteed to be a level playing field by the DNC charter (Article 5, Section 4):

In the conduct and management of the affairs and procedures of the Democratic National Committee, particularly as they apply to the preparation and conduct of the Presidential nomination process, the Chairperson shall exercise impartiality and evenhandedness as between the Presidential candidates and campaigns. The Chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers and staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality and evenhandedness during the Democratic Party Presidential nominating process.

Re: The Security of Our Election Systems

#34

This is a WHISTLE BLOWER situation. First identify who is trying to persecute the whistleblower. There, you've found the party that has committed untoward acts who is now trying to SILENCE THE WHISTLEBLOWER/CHANGE THE SUBJECT. I was a Bernie supporter. A LOT of people were/are. Not at all happy with the DNC. Having a whistleblower confirm our idea that the DNC was trying to hurt Bernie -- -- now I know how a parent f…

Possibly related [1] Seth Conrad Rich, DNC's Data Director [2]. And the late Mr. Rich was not Russian.

[1]: http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Man-Shot-Killed-in-N...

[2]: https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/4v34fk/this_is_...

Re: The Security of Our Election Systems

#35
post #10
post #4

There's a strong moral argument in favor of the DNC leaks: the American people ought to know that its political process was corrupted by powerful actors within its own institutions. Schneier said, "This kind of cyberattack targets the very core of our democratic process. " In this case, though, the attack targeted actors who prevented democratic process. Were we exposed to fictitious narratives intended to advance pr…

I hate that he used the "Russians are coming" argument, but at the same time, he probably wouldn't have gotten even 1/4 of the attention if he just said "our voting machines aren't secure and anyone in the world, including our own government, could hack them." He's playing on the Russian fear, which is what the Democratic party is really pushing right now (by the way, isn't this something the Republican party used to…

[deleted]

Re: The Security of Our Election Systems

#36
post #4

There's a strong moral argument in favor of the DNC leaks: the American people ought to know that its political process was corrupted by powerful actors within its own institutions. Schneier said, "This kind of cyberattack targets the very core of our democratic process. " In this case, though, the attack targeted actors who prevented democratic process. Were we exposed to fictitious narratives intended to advance pr…

The thing is about the leaks, is that there's isn't anything there that anyone paying attention didn't already know. Of course DWS was putting the thumb on the scales for Hillary, who schedules something you want people to see on a Saturday night? [0] As far as "corrupted" and "preventing" democratic process where's the evidence? Seriously. What votes were not counted?Where's the voter fraud? I'll tell you. Nowhere.…

"Putting the thumb on the scales" is itself a violation of the DNC's own charter, under which they are obligated to treat every Democratic candidate for president with impartiality and evenhandedness. There was a massive amount of coordination with the Hillary campaign, anti-Bernie stories were crafted and distributed from inside the DNC, and planting audience questions designed to undermine him was floated as an idea (even if it was never acted upon, that's an egregious misuse of DNC resources and an egregious breach of the charter). You don't have to hack a voting machine to "corrupt" the democratic process, you just have to violate the terms of your own party's charter.

I also wonder why you think the fact that DWS scheduled debates for low-visibility nights in order to help Hillary is so "obvious". I mean, maybe to us, but a few months ago bringing that up would get you labeled as a conspiracy theorist. It probably would even now.

And just one last thing -- on Symone Sanders. What else is she going to say? That they got cheated? She was the press secretary. If she wants any kind of future in politics she's going to take a graceful L.

Re: The Security of Our Election Systems

#37
The OP is a shameful blot on Bruce Schneier's record [imo].

For "evidence" we are directed to The New York Times -- a political organization. This sort of evidence certainly suffices for the non-technical set but that HN is accepting this without subjecting the assertion to the rigor that we apply to topics that are not conflated with emotional and psychological triggers is disconcerting.

I would like to pose the question here to my fellow geeks: Do you really think Russians are so incompetent that they would not avail themselves of e.g. Tor to cover their tracks?

[edit: take courage & answer the question instead of downvoting.]

Re: The Security of Our Election Systems

#39

The OP is a shameful blot on Bruce Schneier's record [imo]. For "evidence" we are directed to The New York Times -- a political organization. This sort of evidence certainly suffices for the non-technical set but that HN is accepting this without subjecting the assertion to the rigor that we apply to topics that are not conflated with emotional and psychological triggers is disconcerting. I would like to pose the que…

Well, even if it wasn't Russia that hacked the DNC (and now the Clinton campaign) it is still the case that someone did, and that's still reason enough to take the measures Bruce Schneier's advocates.

Re: The Security of Our Election Systems

#40
post #39

The OP is a shameful blot on Bruce Schneier's record [imo]. For "evidence" we are directed to The New York Times -- a political organization. This sort of evidence certainly suffices for the non-technical set but that HN is accepting this without subjecting the assertion to the rigor that we apply to topics that are not conflated with emotional and psychological triggers is disconcerting. I would like to pose the que…

Well, even if it wasn't Russia that hacked the DNC (and now the Clinton campaign) it is still the case that someone did, and that's still reason enough to take the measures Bruce Schneier's advocates.

Please answer the question. Leaks may also be from disgruntled staffers whose idealism shattered on encountering the hard realities of American political system.
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