CAN EVM BE HACKED??
OPPOSITION’S
HOWLING FOR PAPER BALLOTS!!!
SARASIJ MAJUMDER
THE
ANSWER TO THE QUESTION ABOVE IS---"EMPHATICALLY
NO.”
Electronic Voting machines can only be manipulated, or hacked, ONLY WHEN they are connected to a network, through which
HACKER can access. Otherwise—only E- Ballot controller through Control
Unit, can do something. Most western democracies sometime or other used these kinds of machines
and due to the fact that they were connected to the web through a network, hackers did manipulate the machines. The size
of their populations allowed them to revert back to paper ballots instead of
innovating further on the EVMs. The only
other country of our size in terms of populations holds ONLY indirect elections
i.e. people do not elect the president, people’s representatives elect the
president, and that is CHINA.
THE
MACHINES USED BY INDIAN ELECTION COMMISSION ARE NOT CONNECTED TO ANY NETWORK.
The ballot unit(where you vote) is only connected to the
control unit(which the presiding officer has) and will now be connected to the
VVPAT(Stands for Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) which is just printing a
paper ballot of your vote for audit purposes only. The point being, that in
order to manipulate a machine, you will need to change its hardware which is
not possible because of the multiple randomization and checking that is
conducted on each machine in the presence of representatives of all the
candidates as part of the ELECTION PROTOCOL.
Another interesting fact to note that with the addition of
the VVPAT, each polling booth can handle about 1400 votes only. This is because
each VVPAT machine has a roll of paper that can print about 1500 slips, about 100
of which get used up during the calibration in front of the representatives of
the political parties. Since it is a cumbersome process to change the roll
mid-polling, the limit of voters to each polling booth is limited to 1400.
HISTORY,
AND EVOLUTION OF EVM IN INDIA
M1 (model one) of EVM machines were manufactured till 2006
and had all necessary technical features making M1 non-hackable contrary to
claims made by some activists. On the recommendations of the Technical
Evaluation Committee in 2006, M2 model of EVMs produced after 2006 and up to
2012 incorporated dynamic coding of key codes thereby enabling transfer of the
key – press message from Ballot Unit (BUs) to Control Unit (CUs), in an
encrypted form as an additional security feature. It also contains Real time setting
of each key press so that sequencing of key presses including so called
malicious sequenced key presses can be detected and wrapped. Further, the ECI-
EVMs are not computer controlled, are standalone machines and not connected to
the internet and /or any other network at any point of time. Hence, there is no
chance of hacking by remote devices. The ECI-EVMs do not have any frequency
receiver or decoder for data for wireless or any external hardware port for
connection to any other non-EVM accessory or device. Hence no tampering is
possible either through hardware port or through Wireless, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth
device because CU accepts only encrypted and dynamically coded data from BU. No
other kind of data can be accepted by CU.
The ECI-EVMs now in use have some of the most sophisticated
technological features like one time programmable (OTP) microcontrollers,
dynamic coding of key codes, date and time stamping of each and every key
press, advanced encryption technology and EVM-tracking software to handle EVM
logistics, among others to make the machine 100% tamper proof. In addition to
these, new model M3 EVMs also have tamper detection and self-diagnostics as
added features. Since, software is based on OTP the program cannot be altered,
re-written or Re-read. Thus, making EVM tamper proof. If anyone make, attempt,
the machine will become in operative.
SOME
ASPECTS OF EVM VALIDATING,AND CALIBRATING PROTOCOL:-
1.Any EVM is only one-time programmable. You have to delete
all data, and reload SOFTWARE to
re-Programme it.
2.EVM is tested before elections in presence of all
political party representatives. They will sign and certify this (Each and
Every EVM).
3.Once the testing is done, they will be randomized and sent
to Strong rooms where there will be only one door locked and the lock is sealed
in presence of all political party representatives with their signatures on the
seals. Whenever there is a
discrepancy with any EVM in the case of security, it wouldn't be used.
4.Whenever the EVM is moved from one place to another, it
will be informed to all political parties and they should send the
representative to check.
5.Even on the day of polling ,each EVM will be again checked
in presence of the representatives of the contestants before the actual polling
starts.
The videos showing tampering of such machines are obviously
not following the security measures, and may be FAKE. They are either
misguiding the people by showing something, where they hide what they are doing
or else they are replacing the original parts inside.
WHAT EMERGE:
We can conclude that a EVM with such high security measures (by following
all the election commission security measures, with Protocols) CAN’T BE HACKED. The addition of VVPAT has taken this task from
very difficult to nearly impossible because the electronic votes can also be
tallied against the paper ballots printed by the VVPAT.
We also can conclude that paper ballot can be easily rigged. That is why OPPOSITION want to switch back to
PAPER BALLOTS.
When someone, or any political party repeatedly asked for
Paper Ballot – the person/ party has other sinister agenda in mind.
NOTE:-- The article essentially is partly COMPILED and partly
COMPOSED , using many SOURCES. Important ones are listed below. I
express my acknowledgement to all of them.
X---X---X
REFERENCES:--
[1] Elections in China - Wikipedia
[2] https://eci.gov.in/files/file/9405-checklist-for-presiding-officer-february-2019/
[3] Not more than 1,400 voters per polling
station: Election Commission
[4] e237afb5-6543-4060-873b-341c7f3b0e44.pdf
IMAGE:--
GOOGLE.
Note: This post is for education purpose only. Not related to the case at SC on EVM issue.
Is there any human intervention in modifying the software as per the list of candidates and their symbols. Who does the modification of software and loading the same to EVMs of a constituency.
ReplyDeleteWhether Pegasus like software can be used for hacking the EVMs?
NO. UNLESS THE SYSTEM IS CONNECTED THROUGH INTERNEET, IT IS NOT POSSIBLE. AND SYSTEM, BY PROTOCOL, AND DESIGN-- CAN'T BE CONNECTED TO INTERNET.
DeleteMy questions are not answered. Who modify the software and load the same to voting machines of each of the constituencies. And Pegasus like software can be used in hacking.
DeleteIf you are not able to answer, please say so. It is not possible for everyone to know the answers. But don't delete as someone else can have answer and he may respond with valuable information.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThe Election Commission clarifies that EVM does not have operating system (OS).
DeleteAccording to the poll body, it only uses firmware or machine-level instructions that are embedded in a one-time-programmed (OTP) memory to eliminate any scope for reprogrammability.
NEGATIVE RESPONSE WITH UNSUPPORTED REFERENCE WILL BE DELETED
ReplyDeleteDivision bench of Supreme Court heard the case of 100% counting vvpat slips. Yesterday, though the verdict was to be delivered, the division bench asked five questions. The same were answered by ECI. The judgement has been reserved.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the Supreme Court might ask for (1) counting of more number of vvpat instead of five evm per constituency (2) to prescribe much more harsh punishment by enactment of law in case of any manipulation (3) to establish some independent Authority to check authenctity of the machines and regular auditing of the system plus some other regulations for establishing trusts of the voters.
Do not agree with you. The credibility of the government and election commission is viewed with suspicion. Old method of paper ballot should be restored.
DeleteSC HAS GIVEN VERDICT. EVM TO STAY. NO 100% VVPAT NEEDED. TWO ADDITIONAL CHECKS ADDED.
Delete