Summary
Hackers breached ballot systems and voting records in both Illinois and Arizona. These records contain information such as name, age, sex, address, the last four digits of some social security numbers, and license plate numbers. It is unclear if the hackers changed any of the voters information or just had access to it. Because of the many different judicial areas it will take the authorities a while to sort through all the information to see if there were any changes. The event, which happened in June and was uncovered by the authorities in July, is said to not have any effect on any election. The main concern is that the hacker might have had access to personal information of the 15 million people registered in those areas.
Analysis
This article is especially concerning seeing as it is election season, and many people will be registering to vote in the upcoming presidential election. Knowing that hackers have access to citizens' personal information, or have the ability to access it, creates a security threat. In 1891 the United States began using a secret ballot, which began the protection of peoples political view (and with solely paper ballots there was no way for hackers to get people's information). With this problem we now have to ask the question if efficiency in counting votes is more important than protecting people's personal information. I hope that the authorities in those states can secure their election system before the election in November.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/29/politics/hackers-breach-illinois-arizona-election-systems/index.html
I think this is an interesting and worrying idea as well. It's scary that hackers could control the votes of the people, especially for our country that enjoys the democracy we have.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see how technology is effecting our way of life, being used for medical purposes, communication and causing easier ways for criminals to access private information.
ReplyDeleteWith out technology the only way for the people to access this information would be look at the physical records . It is interesting how in this day technology makes our lives easier in a lot of ways but can also be a negative thing.
ReplyDeleteThere are many ways technology can be used for good, but seeing these hackers getting peoples personal information is scary. Hopefully, the problem can be fixed as son as possible. - Josie Guthrey
ReplyDelete