AAAS: "block vote does not solve security problems"

   The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has warned that block vote does not solve the security problems of online voting and should not be implemented in the United States.

The AAAS Center for Scientific Evidence on Public Affairs sent an open letter to state governors, secretaries, and directors of elective affairs to express concerns about the security of online or mobile voting, including the block vote.

The AAAS letter, which was signed by cybersecurity experts and organizations, reflects research from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and other organizations.

The researchers point to the possibility of ballot manipulation, the possibility of malware and DDoS attacks, as well as privacy issues and other vulnerabilities.

According to the letter, online voting, including email, fax and mobile voting apps, lacks a voter-confirmed paper copy, making it impossible to verify the results.

Steve M. Newell, project director of the AAAS Center for Scientific Evidence for Public Affairs, points to a report prepared by the National Science Foundation about two decades ago. Already then, the issue of remote voting security was raised by experts.

"They concluded that this is not a viable product at the moment and will not become one in the foreseeable future. Also, two years ago, the National Academies issued a major report on the security of such elections, and their conclusions were largely the same," he said.

The new bloc-based instruments do not seem to meet the experts' requirements either. According to the letter, the use of the blocade does not solve the fundamental problems of online voting, but it opens up more opportunities for attack. Such a system raises questions about how the information can be stored, decrypted and transmitted for long-term storage in hard copy.

"There are people who believe that a block vote will solve the security problem of Internet voting or online voting, but it is not. A blockchain is a way of storing data, but it doesn't solve the major security issues of online voting," said Barbara Simons, a member of the Association of Computers and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The letter mentions Voatz's mobile voting application citing the Trail of Bits audit, which confirms vulnerabilities previously reported by MIT researchers. However, Voatz developers said that MIT researchers used an older version of the application, which had already been updated 27 times when the audit results were published, and that the version had never been used in elections.

The experts note that the application may contain vulnerabilities that have not yet been identified, as well as "lack the transparency required to trust the electoral system. The letter mentions the possibility of manipulating ballots and disclosing voters' personal information, which could expose them to the risk of identity theft.

In addition, in the case of voting by voters serving in the army abroad, vulnerabilities in the annex "have the potential to provide intelligence to adversaries, endangering the lives of soldiers and national security". Experts call for the "thoughtful introduction of alternative voting methods", such as mail-order voting and early voting.

"We should not sacrifice security for convenience, because there are many organizations and people who would like to compromise our elections. And we must make it as difficult for them as possible. Switching to online voting will allow anyone from anywhere in the world to compromise our elections," Simons said.

The letter says online voting should not be used until the ability to verify, secure and keep ballots transmitted over the Internet is guaranteed. According to experts, "none of the known technologies" can provide that at present.

Newell noted that people who see the theoretical advantages of online voting should know that it is not supported by evidence or science and that its insecurity is a clear and widespread opinion. Various groups of experts, from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Heritage Foundation, have been strongly opposed to online voting, Newell said.