Diebold voting machine key copied from pic on Diebold website

Posted by Lindsay Beyerstein at 9:39 AM on January 25, 2007.

Or, unlock the vote with a mini bar key.

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A security expert copied the key to Diebold voting machines from a picture on Diebold's website.

Boing Boing explains:

In another stunning blow to the security and integrity of Diebold's electronic voting machines, someone has made a copy of the key which opens ALL Diebold e-voting machines from a picture on the company's own website. The working keys were confirmed by Princeton scientists, the same people who discovered that a simple virus hack on the Diebold machines could steal an election. Absolutely incredible and another example of how Diebold's e-voting machines pose a great threat to the electoral process.

Almost every Diebold machine uses exactly the same lock and key. So one Diebold key unlocks every machine. Worse, this same cheap mass produced lock is found on office products all around the country. You can buy the exact model from office supply stores, or get it on the internet.

How would the bad guys know what model to look for? They don't have time for trial and error, they've got an election to steal.

Diebold sells these keys on its own website--but only to registered Diebold users. But until very recently, they showed pictures of the Lone Key to Democracy on their site. So, if you've got a drill vise and some similar-looking keys, you can make your very own.

Or, if that's too much work, you can probably unlock the machines with a mini-bar key.

It's almost as if Diebold doesn't want these machines to be secure.

[Freedom To Tinker, Boing Boing]

Tagged as: security, vote, diebold, evoting, key

Lindsay Beyerstein a New York writer blogging at Majikthise.

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