New report warns of possible Pennsylvania voting machine issues!

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (PNN) - October 3, 2016 - The head of an Amerikan cyber security firm released a new report highlighting the most vulnerable states for an election computer hack. At the top of the list is Pennsylvania.

According to the report, prepared by Carbon Black, Pennsylvania is vulnerable because of its voting systems. With just over a month away, elections offices around the state and country are preparing. “We are urging the states just to make sure that their deadbolts are thrown and their locks are on,” FBI Director James Comey said in a recent testimony in front of Congress.

Carbon Black blames the outdated computer systems for the vulnerability in Pennsylvania. Professor Rob D’Ovidio is a cyber security expert with Drexel University and read the entire report. He says many - not all - precincts in Pennsylvania use computer equipment without a backup paper trail.

“Some of our machines are very outdated, running on legacy operating systems, old operating systems like Windows XP that’s not even being supported by Microsoft at this point,” said D’Ovidio.

The Pennsylvania Secretary of State’s Office said that officials are prepared should there be any issues with machines on Election Day.

“We constantly monitor our data and systems for vulnerabilities and attempted attacks in order to keep pace with the rapidly evolving threat landscape,” an unnamed spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Secretary of State said.

She said Pennsylvania voting machines are not connected to the Internet.

David Thornburgh, the head the Committee of Seventy in Philadelphia, said while he’s not concerned about someone hacking in to change votes, he is concerned about Pennsylvania computer systems breaking simply because of old software.

“This is the time for our election officials, whether they are elected or appointed, to stand up and give us confidence that all will be well on Election Day,” said Thornburgh.