IP: not quite so, was Re: Perspective on election processes Risks Digest 21.13

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2000 10:19:54 -0800
> From: Ed Gerck <egerck () safevote com
>
>
> Dave Farber wrote:
>
> > > Date: Sun, 3 Dec 2000 9:59:37 PST
> > > From: "Peter G. Neumann" <neumann () csl sri com>
> > > Subject: Perspective on election processes
> > ....
> > >  * Voting by the Internet, even if only from well established polling
> > >    places, is and will remain extraordinarily risky because of the 
> inherent
> > >    untrustworthiness of computer systems attached to the Internet and
> > >    indeed the networking itself.  It should not be recommended for use
> > >    in the foreseeable future.
>
> The concern is justified but Peter ignores that there is a hacker-proof way
> to make an Internet-connected computer as secure as a non-connected one.
> The method was made public in its details and fire tested in a week-long
> 24-hour-a-day open attack test -- as reported in USA Today, Wired, and
> in http://www.safevote.com/tech.htm
>
> As long as the endpoints fully control the  cryptographic key agreement and
> node addressing schemes used, the “Internet as a transfer medium” is extremely
> reliable in accurately delivering opaque blobs of encrypted and certified 
> data,
> while Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks can be forestalled by using the stealth,
> moving target technology described in http://www.safevote.com/tech.htm.
>
> Indeed, the Internet can support reliable and secure transactions, and does so
> regularly, as long as all endpoints of the transactions are under the 
> control of a
> single authority ­ even if multiple keys are used. People are generally 
> unaware
> of this quality because it is not the “standard mode of operation” employed by
> the public in web browsing or sending an email.
>
> Further features of the security design are described in The Bell of 
> November at
> www.thebell.net, with design principles and limits in the website at
> http://www.safevote.com/aboutus.htm , is exemplified in the demo at the 
> website
> at  http://www.safevote.com/demo2000/index.html , besides clarifications at
> http://www.safevote.com/contracosta/index.html#Report  and
> http://www.safevote.com/tech.htm
>
> Cheers,
>
> Ed Gerck



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