Communications of the ACM
Oscars Vote Vulnerable to Cyber Attack nder New Online System, Experts Warn
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that as of 2013 it would be ditching its current votes-by-mail system.
Credit: A.M.P.A.S.
Computer security experts have warned that the 2013 Oscars ballot may be vulnerable to a variety of cyber attacks that could falsify the outcome but remain undetected, if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences follows through on its decision to switch to Internet voting for its members.
The Academy recently announced that it would be ditching its current vote-by-mail system and allowing its members to fill out electronic ballots from their home or office computers to make their choices for best picture and the other big Hollywood prizes, starting in 2013.
It announced a partnership with Everyone Counts,which has developed software for Internet elections, and which boasted it would incorporate "multiple layers of security" and "military-grade encryption techniques" to maintain the Academy's reputation for scrupulous honesty in respecting its members' voting preferences.
But the security claims have been met with deep scepticism by a computer scientist community which has grappled for years with the problem of making online elections fully verifiable while maintaining ballot secrecy. So far, nobody has demonstrated that such a thing is possible.
From The Guardian
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