Student Article
How Technology Can Secure Future Elections From Hacking
Phishing (noun): A trick used to steal personal information through fake messages.
Blockchain (noun): A digital record-keeping system that is hard to change.
Tamper (verb): To mess with or change something secretly.
Protecting elections from hackers is getting harder, but new technologies may help.
Hacking the vote In 2016, hackers attempted to influence the U.S. presidential election by breaking into email accounts. They used phishing scams to trick people into giving up their passwords. This showed how vulnerable electronic voting systems can be. Easy to break in At a cyber conference in 2017, an expert hacked into a voting machine in just two minutes. Even children at another event were able to change mock election results in under 15 minutes. This revealed serious flaws in voting technology. High-tech protection To prevent hacking, some experts suggest using blockchain. This technology creates a secure and unchangeable list of votes. Others are turning to quantum mechanics to create stronger security codes. Quantum systems can detect if someone is trying to tamper with the data. The power of paper Still, some believe the best protection is a paper backup. A paper trail lets officials double-check votes if machines are hacked. Most experts agree that having multiple layers of security is the best way to protect elections.
© Kate O'Flaherty / Our Media
Phishing (noun): A trick used to steal personal information through fake messages.
Blockchain (noun): A digital record-keeping system that is hard to change.
Tamper (verb): To mess with or change something secretly.