Deploying software on compromised machines
- by Martin
I've been involved in a discussion about how to build internet voting software for a general election. We've reached a general consensus that there exist plenty of secure methods for two way authentication and communication.
However, someone came along and pointed out that in a general election some of the machines being used are almost certainly going to be compromised. To quote:
Let me be an evil electoral fraudster.
I want to sample peoples votes as they
vote and hope I get something
scandalous. I hire a bot-net from some
really shady dudes who control 1000
compromised machines in the UK just
for election day.
I capture the voting habits of 1000
voters on election day. I notice 5 of
them have voted BNP. I look these
users up and check out their machines,
I look through their documents on
their machine and find out their names
and addresses. I find out one of them
is the wife of a tory MP. I leak 'wife
of tory mp is a fascist!' to some
blogger I know. It hits the internet
and goes viral, swings an election.
That's a serious problem!
So, what are the best techniques for running software where user interactions with the software must be kept secret, on a machine which is possibly compromised?
