Appendix C: Proven Computer Hacks
Appendix C: Proven Computer Hacks – Lottery, World Famous Databases, Simulated Election Hacks, etc. —
(rev 12-04-2017)
Commentary by this writer, Kelly Z. Mordecai
(This appendix details that even the most prestigious and fundamentally sound websites, data systems, and presumably, the most secure computers can be hacked resulting in the data being breached or altered. The inference is clear: election computers can be hacked.)
LOTTERY HACK:
Source: http://www.newser.com/story/247601/guy-who-rigged-lottery-to-win-millions-is-sentenced.html
Eddie Tipton was the Information Technology Manager of the Multi-State Lottery Association. (Please note: not “a manager”, but “The Manager” … the top person.)
He plead guilty in June to writing computer code that produced winning numbers on certain days; he then fed those numbers to accomplices, including his brother, who bought lottery tickets. Here is the story from the website.
Lottery: Programmer Who Rigged the Lottery Is Headed to Jail
Newser: – An ex-lottery computer programmer who rigged the system in several states to enable himself to win $2.2 million in jackpots is going to prison. An Iowa judge sentenced Eddie Tipton, 54, to up to 25 years in prison on Tuesday, though the Des Moines Register reports he could be paroled in as few as three due to Iowa law. “I certainly regret” what happened, Tipton told Judge Brad McCall, who cited Tipton’s “greed” in handing down the maximum sentence. As part of the deal, Tipton agreed to pay $2.2 million in restitution to state lotteries in Colorado, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, and Kansas; he was also accused of fixing games in Iowa, where he tried and failed to cash in a $16.5 million Hot Lotto ticket in 2010. When the judge asked him how he intended to pay the money back, Tipton said, per CNN, “Initially, I really don’t know.”
As the information technology manager of the Multi-State Lottery Association, Tipton had access to computers that picked winning numbers in lotteries such as Powerball and Mega Millions in more than 30 states and US territories. He pleaded guilty in June to writing computer code that produced winning numbers on certain days; he then fed those numbers to accomplices, including his brother, who bought lottery tickets. The team then split the winnings. Tipton “had the keys to the kingdom,” the Iowa lottery CEO tells the AP, noting that “checks and balances” have been added to secure the drawings. (This man traveled 1,000 miles to claim winnings in a lottery scam.)
Commentary by this writer Kelly Z. Mordecai: Now let’s pretend for the sake of discussion that the software used by an election official is absolutely secure. 100% secure, and the software is honest, cut-and dry providing a 100% accurate result of all the votes counted. What would happen if someone snuck a virus into the election official’s computer? How to do this? A simple USB “swap.” A USB that looks just like the kind used around the election office. The many kind of USB that are unlabeled. A USB with a virus need only be accidentally laid on the table, and an election employee will grab it and use it. Or potentially, an election volunteer from the public plugs it into the computer the week of the election. Is this possible? Let’s look at another example:
POKER ONLINE
Let’s consider Poker Stars. This is the largest online poker website in the world. Since 2008, they have claimed to be the most secure website in the world. Of course Poker Stars claims this, as people need to trust to play.
Well … Poker Stars awarded $35,000 to Doug “WCGRider” Polk. This after Poker Stars computer security experts discovered that the hacker was able to see every hand Mr. Polk held.
The following is an e-mail from Poker Stars to Mr. Polk on June 26th, 2013:
“Hello Doug,
This email is to inform you of a credit made to your account today in connection with your play against ‘Forbidden536’ on 26th March 2013.
We have determined that ‘Forbidden536’ violated the Terms of Service for using their PokerStars account during their play with you. We have reviewed the play with both player’s hole cards exposed. We are sure beyond any reasonable doubt that ‘Forbidden536’ was able to see your hole cards whilst they were playing against you.
As we stated to you previously, we closed ‘Forbidden536’ whilst our investigation was ongoing. We can confirm that it will not be reopened at any time in the future. The funds in ‘Forbidden536’ at the time of closure was $34,397.10. We have transferred this amount to you this afternoon. We regret that this is not full compensation for the amount you lost ($34,827.40), however, we trust that this matter has now been concluded to your satisfaction.
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to let us know.
Kind Regards,
Jim
Senior Manager, PokerStars Game Integrity Team”
(End of email from PokerStars to Doug Polk)
According to Mr. Polk, a guest stayed in his Las Vegas home, and planted a bug in his computer while Mr. Polk was not at home. It would only take about 5 minutes with a USB drive to plant such software. After Mr. Polk wiped the drive, and re-installed normal software, the hacking stopped.
References:
Commentary by Kelly Z. Mordecai: The potential for a “hack” as described above with a USB drive is very possible. Software vendors send “field techs” to some county election offices the week of the election for “assistance.” ARE COUNTY ELECTION OFFICIALS AND STAFF TRAINED IN PROPER SECURITY PROTOCOLS? ARE COUNTY ELECTION STAFF CAPABLE OF DETECTING PROBLEMS? ARE COUNTY ELECTION STAFF ALLOWED TO SEE THE SOFTWARE CODE? The answer to these three questions is, “NO!”, due to “intellectual property” agreements disallowing anyone except the software vendor to see and/or “repair” said code.)
GREATEST PROVEN COMPUTER HACKS OF ALL TIME
The funniest aspect of these hacks is that one of the largest ones, namely, the Yahoo hack reported in September 2016, was taking place in the last months of the 2016 Presidential campaign during the same period when Ohio Secretary of State John Husted, other government officials, and Big Media operatives were telling the public that it would be impossible to hack a Presidential Election.
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Yahoo hack 2016 – 500 million compromised
The Yahoo hack happened in September 2016, a little more than a month before the Presidential election, an entire article about it can be read here:
http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/22/technology/yahoo-data-breach/index.html
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Equifax Credit Reporting hack: potentially impacting 143 million users.
the entire article on Equifax can be read here: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/300039
The entire article of the hacks listed below can be read here:
https://www.lifewire.com/the-greatest-computer-hacks-4060530
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Home Depot Hack 2014 – 50 million credit cards
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Linked-in hack 2016 – 164 million accounts
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Anthem Health Care hack 2015 – 78 million users
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JP Morgan Chase Hack 2014 — 76+ million accounts
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ebay Hack 2014 – 145 million users breached
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Sony Playstation Network hack 2011 – 77 million users
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Global Payments hack 2012 — 110 Million Credit Cards
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Spamhaus 2013 – largest distributed denial of service attack yet
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Ashley Madison hack 2015 – 37 million users
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The Conficker Worm 2008 – still infecting 1 million computers a year
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Stuxnet Worm 2010 – Iran’s nuclear program blocked
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Uber Hack October 2016 – exposed data on 57 million users & drivers
ELECTIONS – HACKS IN SIMULATED ELECTIONS
The most famous hack in a simulated election was by Harry Hursti of Finland in the HBO documentary, “Hacking Democracy.” Anyone can see this dramatic hack, which left some in the documentary and many who have watched it, in tears – near the end of the documentary.
More recently, in 2017, the DEF CON convention held in Las Vegas, Nevada, saw many computer programmers successfully hack into simulated elections.
In Chapter 2 and Appendix 2 of the book “Blackbox Voting” by Bev Harris, she suggests elections seem to have possibly been hacked many times, however it is difficult to prove such possible hacks because of the confidentiality agreements for “intellectual property” which are uniformly demanded by election vendors, and which are uniformly signed by all of the 3000+ counties in the USA, who hire these vendors.
In other words, since the signed contracts won’t let any of the election officials or candidates or members of the public have access to any relevant information, then no one can prove any hacks in the real elections. [Very clever.]
Iowa 1996 & 2012 –
The two times that computer falsifications of the real vote count were proven was by our own group, Watch the Vote USA, in 1996 in Dubuque, Iowa against Pat Buchanan, and in the 2012 Iowa Caucus when Mitt Romney was falsely named the winner on Caucus night.
The Iowa Caucus system is an excellent model of honesty at the local caucus level because the ballots are counted by hand before the ballots leave the room.
The only reason the vote count falsification at the State level could be proven in those two instances is because in both cases there was a hand count of paper ballots at the local level which the local citizen participants could involve themselves in and OBSERVE.
If the Iowa Caucus had been conducted like the November election in the 49 states and ½ of New Hampshire, i.e., secret computer counts on secret computer programs – then there would have been nothing for the local citizens to observe, and no way to prove the vote falsification of the published results.
Dr. Laura Pressley –
In Austin, Texas, Dr. Laura Pressley is in the midst of valiantly fighting a lawsuit in which she has proven several blatant violations of state law in the 2014 City Council election where she was a candidate for city council.
One can hear an interview on YouTube with Dr. Laura Pressley conducted by Sofia Smallstorm, as well as see her slide presentation to public groups on YouTube as well.
At the moment, the Judges have blocked Dr. Pressley from access to the key information she needs, as well as fine her $100,000 for filing a “frivolous” lawsuit.
All this is now on appeal to the Texas Supreme Court. Every concerned American should be supporting Dr. Pressley in her valiant fight for all Americans.
Conclusion
Once a paper ballot is turned into electrons, it is subject to easy manipulation!
We need to go back to “Hand Counted Paper Ballots”, counted at the neighborhood precinct BEFORE THE BALLOTS LEAVE THE PUBLIC SIGHT!!!