vulnerability testing proposed for California

[Neal McBurnett <neal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Good news from California!  This is a significant step and I hope they
stick to their plain.  If we don't test the machines as soon as
possible, we'll just have less time to deal with the inevitable issues
that come up....

Neal McBurnett                 http://mcburnett.org/neal/

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California: E-voting Machines Face Tough New Standards

 http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2360&Itemid=113


 For the first time, California is demanding the right to try hacking
 every voting machine with "red teams" of computer experts and to
 study the software inside the machines, line-by-line, for security
 holes.
 ....

 County elections officials balked at the proposed standards in a
 letter Monday to Bowen and hinted broadly at the same conclusion
 reached by several computer scientists: If enforced rigidly, the
 standards could send many voting machines, especially touch-screens,
 back for major upgrades. Local elections officials argued that there
 isn't enough time to fix any deficiencies before the February 2008
 presidential primary.
 ....

 "Debra Bowen is holding up voting machines to the standards they
 deserve," said Avi Rubin, a computer science professor at Johns
 Hopkins University who published one of the first technical critiques
 of e-voting software. "I don't know of any other state in the country
 that requires red team testing of voting machines, and I've long
 maintained that this is the only reasonable way to test security."

 ....