But the letter, signed by academics including Alex Halderman, director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Science and Security, and groups including Common Cause and the National Election Defense Coalition, says modern cellular modems "in fact, are part of the Internet."
Cellular networks have "known vulnerabilities that are subject to exploitation," the letter said. A cellular device "can be fooled into connecting to false mobile cell towers (such as Stingray surveillance devices) to cause a server disruption, and if there is improper authentication of a connection, there could be false reports from devices impersonating precinct voting machines."
Joe Rozell, director of elections for Oakland County, said officials there have used cellular modems for about seven years and are "very comfortable with the process that we're using." That's especially true since 2017, when the county paid AT&T between $15,000 and $20,000 for a private cellular network used to transmit the unofficial results from 520 precincts to the clerk's office in Pontiac, he said.
If the modem can't detect connection to that network, it will shut down immediately, he said.
And that's just one of the security features in place, Rozell said.
The modem is shut down prior to and during voting and once the last vote is cast, it is not turned on until a hard copy of the results is printed at each precinct, he said. Then the cellular modem is turned on and it takes less than 30 seconds to transmit the encrypted results from the precincts to election headquarters, in a process that is also password protected, he said.
After the election, two separate methods are used to verify that the transmitted results match those printed out before the modem was activated, he said.
Here is the connection:
https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/10/09/michigan-election-cellular-modem-vulnerable-hacking/1575127002/
But the letter, signed by academics including Alex Halderman, director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Science and Security, and groups including Common Cause and the National Election Defense Coalition, says modern cellular modems "in fact, are part of the Internet."
Cellular networks have "known vulnerabilities that are subject to exploitation," the letter said. A cellular device "can be fooled into connecting to false mobile cell towers (such as Stingray surveillance devices) to cause a server disruption, and if there is improper authentication of a connection, there could be false reports from devices impersonating precinct voting machines."
Joe Rozell, director of elections for Oakland County, said officials there have used cellular modems for about seven years and are "very comfortable with the process that we're using." That's especially true since 2017, when the county paid AT&T between $15,000 and $20,000 for a private cellular network used to transmit the unofficial results from 520 precincts to the clerk's office in Pontiac, he said.
If the modem can't detect connection to that network, it will shut down immediately, he said.
And that's just one of the security features in place, Rozell said.
The modem is shut down prior to and during voting and once the last vote is cast, it is not turned on until a hard copy of the results is printed at each precinct, he said. Then the cellular modem is turned on and it takes less than 30 seconds to transmit the encrypted results from the precincts to election headquarters, in a process that is also password protected, he said.
After the election, two separate methods are used to verify that the transmitted results match those printed out before the modem was activated, he said.