Network Security

Report: Defcon 2017 to feature election hacking exhibition

The 2017 Defcon conference will reportedly feature an exhibition dedicated to hacking electronic voting machines.

According to a Tuesday report from Politico, attendees of the annual Las Vegas event will be able watch hackers break down voting machines' hardware, remotely compromise their software, and conduct on-site physical and virtual attacks on the technology.

This election themed "village" area is a no-brainer, coming of a controversial U.S. election that was marred by Russian interference. Although experts do no believe voting machines were hacked, such a concept is not out of the question.

“We're only going to play with [the voting machines] for a couple of days, but bad guys can play with them for weeks or years,” said Jeff Moss, founder of Defcon, in the Politico article. “Pretty much, just like everything else, it's time for hackers to come in and tell you what's possible and what's not."

Voting machine companies are welcome to actively participate and bring their own machines, but Moss doubts they will. "They're going to freak out,” he predicted to Politico.

SC Media has reached out to Defcon and Moss for additional information.

Bradley Barth

As director of multimedia content strategy at CyberRisk Alliance, Bradley Barth develops content for online conferences, webcasts, podcasts video/multimedia projects — often serving as moderator or host. For nearly six years, he wrote and reported for SC Media as deputy editor and, before that, senior reporter. He was previously a program executive with the tech-focused PR firm Voxus. Past journalistic experience includes stints as business editor at Executive Technology, a staff writer at New York Sportscene and a freelance journalist covering travel and entertainment. In his spare time, Bradley also writes screenplays.

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