[E-voting] Examiner article

[Justin Mason]

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That certainly *is* a good article!

http://www.irishexaminer.com/pport/web/ireland/Full_Story/did-sg7ure9qjFpIwsgTbBP-2fa91M.asp

  THE electronic voting system in Da'il E'ireann failed after being infected
  by a computer virus this year, it emerged yesterday, prompting fears over
  the security of the nationwide system for next year's elections.

  Ceann Comhairle Dr Rory O'Hanlon has confirmed the Da'il system failed in
  February due to a computer virus despite not being connected to either
  phone or internet lines.

  Responding to queries from Fine Gael environment spokesman Bernard Allen,
  Dr O'Hanlon said it is believed the virus entered via a connection to the
  Oireachtas IT network.

!!!!!!  So the machines were 'not connected to either phone or internet
lines' but *WERE* still connected to the Oireachtas network -- which
*ALMOST DEFINITELY* would have internet access, or at least have the odd
laptop which might have been brought to some other site and connected to
the internet.

Talk about missing the point!!   Amazing!

  "Since that incident remedial measures have been taken to prevent this
  happening again," he said.

*sure*.

I wonder if that virus may have been LovGate.B or LovGate.C, which was
found in Feb 2003: http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/lovgate.shtml notes:

  Lovgate.B is mass mailing and network worm which also has a backdoor
  component.

  Apart form [sic] the mass mailing functionality this worm can spread
  through windows shares and steal users' passwords. It also has backdoor
  capabilities listening in the port 10168, allowing the attacker to
  perform different actions on the infected machine. 


It would be simply *great* if an attacker could have remotely controlled
the Irish vote-counting systems over the internet. :(

- --j.
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