PCOS’ backdoor console for fraud entry discovered By Danessa O. Rivera and Charlie V. Manalo 06/20/2010

PCOS’ backdoor console for fraud entry discovered

By Danessa O. Rivera and Charlie V. Manalo 06/20/2010 In a sign of bad faith, Smartmatic, the technical provider and partner of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), failed to disclose that its precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines had console ports or “secret backdoors” which anyone could open without the need for passwords or usernames to gain complete control over the units’ operating system and obviously could be used for manipulating votes. This backdoor port gives anyone the opportunity to either modify, erase, save or overwrite files and programs in the PCOS machines, an IT expert yesterday disclosed during a media forum at the Sulo Hotel. At the same time, in another forum held at the Manila Polo Club in Makati yesterday, LRA Pacific operations director Jonathan Manalang disclosed that there were several concerns that were seemed highly questionable. Manalang said some concerns were on the proper inventory of the PCOS machines. As he and his team called technicians in different precincts to confirm if they had received the right number of PCOS machines, they were informed that some received less than the designated number of PCOS machine while some received more.  They reported this matter to Smartmatic officials but all the tech provider officials said was “they will handle it.” Manalang added that certain PCOS machines only allowed a certain number of votes, an issue that became a concern, when some precinct polling places received the wrong PCOS machines. LRA Pacific was the outsourcing company hired by Smartmatic to handle the technical support during the elections. Manalang served as a witness during the hearings regarding election fraud at the House of Representatives on June 30 but this was cut short a few days before the last day of hearing by Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. who headed the congressional committee. Contrary to assertions of Smartmatic that its PCOS machines are tamper-proof, an IT expert, Roberto Verzola, yesterday bared that the voting machines used in the May 10 polls contained a backdoor entry which can enable anyone to access their data, overwrite them or use them for any purpose one may deem beneficial to his intention. At the weekly Kapihan sa Sulo, Obet Verzola, the IT expert, said investigators conducting a forensic examination on the 60 PCOS machines found in the possession of a Smartmatic technican in Antipolo City, had discovered a backdoor or portal at the back of the machines, which is called a console. Verzola said that this console can be used by anyone simply by accessing it through a cable and once access has been gained, the “intruder” can easily access the data, overwrite them or use the data for whatever purposes desired. Through the consul, Verzola added that the hacker can easily erase all data including the audit trail which Smartmatic claims is a fool-proof mechanism to detect if the machines had been hacked. Smartmatic’s chief in the Philippines, Cesar Flores, during a congressional hearing admitted in the face of evidence, after denying it earlier, that the audit log entries can be altered, that compact flash (CF) cards can be reprogrammed as desired, and that votes can be rescanned, erased or added to another candidate.... MORE Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100620hed1.html

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