Though many consider the above statement as nothing more than fiction or a figment of one’s imagination, but it's not as far-fetched as you might believe.
We agree that the statement suits a movie or TV show's (a popular example is Mr. Robot) plot better, but it should be noted that many leading experts are already pondering over the possibility of a hack and are working to prevent it, should it ever turn into a reality.
The recent hacking of Democratic Party databases proves that there are evil parties out there who wish to influence this year's elections in their favor. Other reports also suggest this outcome. Only a few weeks ago, Illinois election officials shut down the state's voter registration database after discovering that it had been hacked. Arizona also took its voter registration offline in June after FBI's warning that it might be hacked.
David Levin, a security analyst, was arrested this May after he gained access to Lee County, Florida, elections website in an attempt to reveal how vulnerable the system was.
"Yeah, you could be in Siberia and still perform the attack that I performed on the local supervisor of election website. So this is very important;" Levin said in a YouTube video. The County states that the problem was later analyzed and fixed.
"Wherever there's a fully electronic voting system, there's potential for tampering of some kind," says Pamela Smith, president of Verified Voting. "If you can get at an election management system, you could potentially alter results, or muddy up the results, or you could even just shed doubt on the outcome because you make it clear that there's been tampering."
Mr. Johnson, the Secretary of Homeland Security, confirmed that the government is concerned regarding the upcoming elections. He said that he's considering communicating with the state and local election officials across country about the "best practices" to thwart cyberintrusions. After reports surfaced that machinery in most counties is more than 10 years old, Mr. Johnson confirmed that there's a need for longer-term investments.
"There are various different points in the process that we have to be concerned about, so this is something that we are focused on right at the moment," Mr. Johnson said.
One way to ensure that the machines aren't hacked is to use paper-backed system while casting vote. Voters and the local staff should make sure that the vote they cast is registered correctly. Paper backups allow voters and staff to double-check any suspicious results, if generated, after they'd cast their vote.
The machines should also be thoroughly checked by the staff before the electoral process begins to make sure that they're recording votes correctly and that there's nothing missing.