Electoral authorities invited IT experts to become “hackers” for one day and try to hack into the e-voting machines to test their security before the October municipal elections.
The testing will take place between the 20th and the 22nd of March employing 25 people who will try hacking into the e-ballots’ security, the software it uses, its seal and the logistical system that protects it as well as its content and the voting software it uses, according to the statement the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) made on its website.
This is the second time tests of this sort are undertaken by the TSE. The first one was organised in 2009 when the e-ballots were tested by 37 researchers and no-one could hack the system’s security.
According to the Superior Electoral Court, participants will have access to the system’s source code, and they will know the sequence of actions the programme runs when registering the votes.
The South American country will have elections for Mayors and city councillors in the country’s 5.565 city councils, with what is considered to be a test of strength of political parties for the upcoming presidential elections in 2014.