An ominous sign that our elections are in real danger was on display at the Def Con convention, where a young hacker broke into a replica of Florida's election results website in 10 minutes and was able to change names and vote tallies. There was a competition among 35 children ranging from 6 to 17 and all managed eventually to hack into the systems of six swing states during the course of the convention this past weekend. To demonstrate the vulnerability of voting systems in several states:
"Organizers of a 'voting village' at the annual Def Con hacker convention have packed a conference room at Caesars Palace with voting machines and have asked civically-curious hackers to wreak havoc. The event, now in its second year, is supposed to demonstrate vulnerabilities in America's vast election infrastructure.
After a few hours on Friday, one hacker was essentially able to turn a voting machine into a jukebox, making it play music and display animations." (our emphasis)Just weeks ago, Rethuglicans in Congress refused to pass a funding bill that would have given states more resources to combat election hacking by adversaries like the Russian Federation. They're clearly hoping that Kremlin hackers (and social media bots) will help them again, this time in the mid-terms, since they're facing a blue wave.
