Russian hackers attack US election systems
After being in print for twenty years, the Chronological Encyclopedia of Discoveries in Space, covering everything that was learned on every single space mission in the 20th century, has finally gone out of print.
I presently have my last four hardback copies available for sale. The book sold new for about $90. To get your own autographed copy of this now rare collector's item, please send a $120 check (which includes shipping) payable to Robert Zimmerman to
Behind The Black, c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
"Useful to space buffs and generalists, comprehensive but readable, Bob Zimmerman's Encyclopedia belongs front and center on everyone's bookshelf."
-- Mike Collins, Apollo 11 astronaut
"The Chronological Encylopedia of Discoveries in Space is no passionless compendium of information. Robert Zimmerman's fact-filled reports, which cover virtually every spacecraft or probe to have ventured into the heavens, relate the scientific and technical adventure of space exploration enthusiastically and with authority."
-- American Scientist
What, me worry? Russian hackers attempted and were partly successful in June in accessing the election databases of Arizona and Illinois.
Hackers targeted voter registration systems in Illinois and Arizona, and the FBI alerted Arizona officials in June that Russians were behind the assault on the election system in that state. The bureau described the threat as “credible” and significant, “an eight on a scale of one to 10,” Matt Roberts, a spokesman for Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan (R), said Monday. As a result, Reagan shut down the state’s voter registration system for nearly a week.
It turned out that the hackers had not compromised the state system or even any county system. They had, however, stolen the username and password of a single election official in Gila County.
The article describes in detail the overall bad situation, including a number of additional attacks as well as the poor security surrounding the online voting option that more than 30 states use.
As usual, we are being told not to worry by the responsible government officials:
Tom Hicks, chairman of the federal Election Assistance Commission, an agency set up by Congress after the 2000 Florida recount to maintain election integrity, said he is confident that states have sufficient safeguards in place to ward off attempts to manipulate data. For example, if a voter’s name were deleted and did not show up on the precinct list, the individual could still cast a provisional ballot, Hicks said. Once the voter’s status was confirmed, the ballot would be counted. Hicks also said the actual systems used to cast votes “are not hooked up to the Internet” and so “there’s not going to be any manipulation of data.” However, more than 30 states have some provisions for online voting, primarily for voters living overseas or serving in the military.
Hicks has made me feel so much better!
After being in print for twenty years, the Chronological Encyclopedia of Discoveries in Space, covering everything that was learned on every single space mission in the 20th century, has finally gone out of print.
I presently have my last four hardback copies available for sale. The book sold new for about $90. To get your own autographed copy of this now rare collector's item, please send a $120 check (which includes shipping) payable to Robert Zimmerman to
Behind The Black, c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
"Useful to space buffs and generalists, comprehensive but readable, Bob Zimmerman's Encyclopedia belongs front and center on everyone's bookshelf." -- Mike Collins, Apollo 11 astronaut
"The Chronological Encylopedia of Discoveries in Space is no passionless compendium of information. Robert Zimmerman's fact-filled reports, which cover virtually every spacecraft or probe to have ventured into the heavens, relate the scientific and technical adventure of space exploration enthusiastically and with authority." -- American Scientist
What, me worry? Russian hackers attempted and were partly successful in June in accessing the election databases of Arizona and Illinois.
Hackers targeted voter registration systems in Illinois and Arizona, and the FBI alerted Arizona officials in June that Russians were behind the assault on the election system in that state. The bureau described the threat as “credible” and significant, “an eight on a scale of one to 10,” Matt Roberts, a spokesman for Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan (R), said Monday. As a result, Reagan shut down the state’s voter registration system for nearly a week.
It turned out that the hackers had not compromised the state system or even any county system. They had, however, stolen the username and password of a single election official in Gila County.
The article describes in detail the overall bad situation, including a number of additional attacks as well as the poor security surrounding the online voting option that more than 30 states use.
As usual, we are being told not to worry by the responsible government officials:
Tom Hicks, chairman of the federal Election Assistance Commission, an agency set up by Congress after the 2000 Florida recount to maintain election integrity, said he is confident that states have sufficient safeguards in place to ward off attempts to manipulate data. For example, if a voter’s name were deleted and did not show up on the precinct list, the individual could still cast a provisional ballot, Hicks said. Once the voter’s status was confirmed, the ballot would be counted. Hicks also said the actual systems used to cast votes “are not hooked up to the Internet” and so “there’s not going to be any manipulation of data.” However, more than 30 states have some provisions for online voting, primarily for voters living overseas or serving in the military.
Hicks has made me feel so much better!
Provincial ballots wouldn’t help states that vote by mail.
I believe this to be a faults flag operation, an excuse for the federal government to take active control over all state and county voting districts. ( I don’t have the link) They will say it is to protect us. It’s for our own good and for the good of the democracy against outside influence. To quote a famous Russian leader, “I don’t care Who votes, as long as I control the voting booth”.
Al Gore’s greatest contribution to the party politic was to sue over the hanging Chad which resulted in the removal of machine voting. Computer voting has proven to be fraudulent, full of ways to be manipulated, and the ability to preprogram for a predetermined result.
The unattended consequences of this action has resulted in hackers competing to determine the election results. The people at black box voting have estimated that only 5% of the voting is not tampered with. Many other states, like Washington, have passed laws forbidding recounts. The Internet is full of stories documenting irregularities in nearly every state. In most places, the women’s voting league are not allowed to oversee the counting or the process involved to verify the results. They are often not even allowed in the building in violation of state law’s.
In Utah, years ago, commissioner in charge of County elections asked an electronics repair man to look at a locked and sealed vote machine to satisfy his curiosity about the rumors. They found a modified smart phone motherboard with its Wi-Fi and cell functions active. We all know that cell phones are programmed to receive updates when activated or at a predetermined date.
To sum this up, there’s trillions of dollars changing hands, building and destroying of nations involving the most powerful country in the world. They would not leave this control to chance. There’s too much at stake…