Mock Election Site Hacked By Pre-Teen

An 11-year-old boy hacked a replica of a Florida election website in just 10 minutes. Officials have downplayed the incident saying it's not an accurate recreation of how such hacking could work.

The hack took place at DefCon, an annual conference for people interested in computer security. It often has competitions and demonstrations of security vulnerability - and certainly isn't a place you would want to connect your wireless device to unknown WiFi networks.

One of the events at the conference was the DefCon Voting Machine Hacking Village. Participants, including many children, attempted to manipulate mock websites that replicated those actually used by state officials. The states in question were largely 'swing' states where the outcome is less predictable and thus play a big role in Presidential elections in particular.

Preliminary Vote Totals Altered

The replicated sites didn't involve any online voting or counting results. Instead they were sites used by officials to publish preliminary results. These figures aren't the final, verified totals but rather are the numbers that the public and media can check during an election night to get an immediate sense of who is likely to win votes in particular areas and in turn the nationwide picture.

While the 11-year-old's 'hack' (of a mock Florida site) was impressively quick, it was far from unusual. Reportedly 89 percent of those who took part were able to alter figures. In most cases it was because of simple coding errors on the site that allowed users to access the database used to create and display constantly updated vote totals. (Source: bigthink.com)

The National Association of Secretaries of State said that although it welcomed the exercise, it didn't believe it was a fair replication of the real websites used during an election. It also stressed the fact that the hacks in question would not change any actual election results. (Source: qz.com)

Confusion Could Be Real Goal

That might not be a total relief, however. Some analysts have argued that foreign powers looking to meddle in the US democratic process are more concerned with breeding confusion and distrust than they are in actually influencing who wins.

For example, by getting bogus results on a few key state sites, a hack could create the impression that the losing candidate as won, perhaps even to the point that the real winner publicly conceded. That would not only create immense confusion when the real figures came out, but could mean critics of the real winner undermined their authority.

What's Your Opinion?

Do you believe the argument that the exercise wasn't realistic? Does it matter that it involved results sites rather than the actual voting process? How likely do you think it is that foreign powers will try to hack election systems and bodies in this way?