Feb 11, 2020
Welcome!
Good morning, everybody. I was on with Mr. Jim Polito this morning and as you know today is Primary Day in New Hampshire it is the Big Day for our State Sport - Politics. That means it is the day to address voter manipulation, voter fraud, low tech solutions and why apps are not the answer. So, here we go with Mr. Polito.
For more tech tips, news, and updates visit - CraigPeterson.com
---
Automated Machine Generated Transcript:
Craig
You know, they don't release their source code, they hold
everything close to the chest. They say, Well, you know, it's
obscure people don't know what we're doing or how we're doing it;
therefore, it's safe. That is never the case, and things are
starting to turn around. So there are so many mistakes we could put
a whole quarter together and how that poor people about it. Here's
how not to do a deployment of software.
Craig
Hey, good morning, everybody. Craig Peterson here, of course, on
with Mr. Jim Polito. How could we be here on New Hampshire voting
day without talking about politics and whether or not voting
machines are hackable? So let's get into it.
Jim Polito
There are multiple levels to this one in New Hampshire. But this is
important because We're going to Iowa. And we're going to the
polls, the technical and have an election joining us now, our tech
talk guru and good friend, Craig Peterson. Good morning, sir.
Craig
Good morning. It sounds like you're going to hit for that Bernie
screen there. Yeah.
Jim
Yeah, yeah. You were not going to do one of those. Hey, can we talk
about election technology? I mean, what the heck happened in Iowa?
I mean, really? Yeah, I know. We talked about it before, but what
the heck happened?
Craig
Yeah, this is an excellent example of everything you should not do
when it comes to launching an app when it comes to rolling out new
software, whatever it is. The Iowa Democratic Party man, everybody
in there. Should be Jeff can there's no question about it. You
know, I work with the FBI, and I'm part of the FBI infragard
program. And the FBI is excellent about trying to make sure that
everybody's safe. Did you know that Homeland Security, the FBI
reached out to the Iowa Democratic Party saying, "Hey, guys, we
know you have an app, we know that you're looking to use this for
all of the results and we are here to help." What you had in Iowa
was a bunch of people that have never rolled out an app before.
They built it quickly. Jim, I am talking about hastily built, it
wasn't load tested. We already talked about the fact that it was
made entirely by insiders of Democratic Party higher-ups inside.
It's everything you wouldn't want. You know, if I were them, I
would have had a completely dry run on this thing, which they kind
of did. They had little test logins for people. And the way they
did their dry run was minimal. And this is a dry run, use different
account different ways of logging in a different place to log in
than the real one. It was just a total disaster.
Jim
I'll tell you, you know, this is the second time that the Democrats
have had a problem with something it refused the help of the FBI.
Remember, you know, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the hacking of the
DNC and John Podesta's emails being leaked, okay. They didn't want
any help with that, either. Then we have this happening. Now the
first one, I think, might have been Russian hackers (phishers).
This one, they hacked it up all by themselves and still didn't ask
for help from the FBI. And here's the question, Could someone, a
bad player from another country, have hacked into that app screwed
the whole thing up? I mean, we don't have any evidence yet that it
did happen. But the question is, could it have happened?
Craig
Well, and the answer to that is obviously, yes. One of the big
things that we've been doing for years here in the application
development business remember, I built some of the most prominent
internet properties that ever existed.
Jim
You helped to invent the internet. That's not a joke, people. He
wrote code that is still in use.
Craig
Yeah, exactly. And some of the big ones like the Big Yellow Super
Pages, you've probably heard about that. Yeah. You know that these
important things and one of the things that we do to help make sure
The safe software systems are secure are we use something called
open-source software. And open-source software is software where
everyone can look at the code. So, for instance, the best
application out there, if you want an end to end security is called
signal app. It's free. The source code for this thing is available
freely on the internet for anyone to inspect. And that's the
opposite of what again, the Democratic Party did in Iowa, which is
the used what would be called closed source, something in the
industry we call security through obscurity.
Jim
And look at how well that's worked for Microsoft. Right.
Craig
You know, they, they don't release their source code but hold
everything close. They say, Well, you know, it's obscure. People
don't know what we're doing or how we're doing it. Therefore it
says that is Never the case, and things are starting to turn
around. So there are so many mistakes that we could put a whole
course together at Harvard, for people about here's how not to do
deploy software.
Jim
We're talking with our good friend Tech Talk Guru Craig Peterson.
At the end of the segment, we're going to tell you how you can get
your hands on some of his stuff. Craig will not bother you, so
don't worry. So, Craig, that could have happened. They didn't use
open source stuff. What about the rest of our election? I mean,
they're, they're going to the polls in New Hampshire right now. I
mean, can our election be hacked?
Craig
Yeah, that's a great question. And I think everybody's minds right
now. I'm going to be on a TV station up in Burlington, Vermont.
Speaking of obscure
Jim
Very good. Very good.
Craig
I wonder if the Soviet flag is still on the wall? I doubt it.
Jim
I wouldn't doubt it. Oh.
Craig
That's what we're going delve into because I think it's a question
everybody's mind. There are multiple levels of hacks or numerous
targets for hacks when it comes to our systems in the election.
Now, I have to say, New Hampshire is what many people would call a
Luddite. New Hampshire says, Hey, listen, we're going to go low
tech. And you know what, that's my answer. They have resisted all
these fancy computer systems, all of these new-fangled machines. In
New Hampshire, when you vote, you use a pencil or a felt tip pen on
a piece of paper. Yeah. And that's the only thing that they could
hack. Then those ballots are kept so they a manual count can be
done if needed. Back in 2000, New Hampshire had the option of using
the the the hanging chads technique that used in Florida and New
Hampshire avoided that. And now so here are the different levels
you could hack the voting machines themselves and New Hampshire,
again, is doing a great job. The not connected networked, let alone
the internet. So that's step one. The FBI has been warning about is
how Secretary of State's offices, websites, because what's been
happening is a that is just crazy here. But those websites are
being compromised by places like Ukraine, Russia. And others over
the years and obviously, China. How are those used? For the
ultimate reporting in some states, the local county chairs
performing the counts, upload them directly to the website. The
data goes on there. That is another place for hacks to occur. And
then here's yet another opportunity for hacking, and that is those
websites show faults resolved because nationally, their parties are
going to the website to the sector state offices and pulling the
final results. Then they can also be hacked up on the federal level
because, again, they're also using computers. There are so many
ways for hacking to happen, but I can feel comfortable in saying
that the FBI is keeping a very close eye on this, Homeland Security
is keeping a very close eye on this. And, you know, I think we can
be moderately comfortable. Those types of hacks aren't happening.
But then there's the non-hack hack, which is they buy advertising
and try and get people to change their minds. Now, that happened
last time around, but the Russians managed to buy ads to try and
get your change your vote after the election occurred. Right. So
it's right left and center in this day and age, Jim.
Jim
It is just crazy that the people, the democrats, in this case,
won't take the help of the FBI. In protecting these things. I agree
with you low tech is the best. Low tech is the best. Sure. You
could have some person working in a clerk's office stuff the ballot
box, okay, but you couldn't have a political hack that would
overturn a question. The Presidential election it would be more
difficult to coordinate that many people to do it.
Craig
Yes. And it's way more difficult today than it was just two years
ago or four years ago because they're starting to figure it out.
And many states are ditching those completely electronic voting
machines. By the way, here, here's something we got to get changed.
We have a federal law that requires every state to have electronic
voting machines that can be used by the, you know, hearing
impaired, sight impaired, etc. I agree we have to provide something
that allows these people to vote, but again why not a low tech
solution. We should assign a poll worker to help them fill out the
ballot, as opposed to having a machine that essentially has a
touchpad, which is hackable. Just last year, we had our black hat
conference in Vegas. There they had a bunch of voting machines
sitting there for hackers to try their skills. Within minutes, they
were able to hack into every one of them, and even a high schooler
was able to hack them.
Jim
Well, that's what you get, you know? I mean, there's, there are
people like you who get it, you know, when they're very talented,
but then we've got these kids who are growing up in a world where
they can figure this out.
Craig
Yes, yeah. And, and it's a feather in their cap to their career.
You know, we just had a bill passed in the Senate. That was, I
think it's started in the Senate and then sent to the house. It
called for white hat hackers. Good guys to try and hack federal
government systems. Well, where do you get your chomps to be a
white hat hacker? A lot of these kids will look at it and say all I
was just a kid. Yeah, I was hacking businesses and government
websites and, and I was able to do all of this. Now all of a sudden
they get a job in the federal government that's well paid because
they were bad guys when they were, you know, young. I get it.
Jim
All right. So, where can folks get more information from you? I
take it that they text my name, Jim, to this number.
Craig
Absolutely. Couple of ways to do it. You can just go to Craig
Peterson calm, or you can text Jim to 855-385-5553. That's just
text, Jim to 855-385-5553, standard data and text rates apply.
Jim
Craig will not try to hack you. And Craig, we love having you every
Tuesday at this time.
Craig
Hey, thanks, Jim.
Jim
All right. Have a good one, buddy. When we return a fight Word.
You're listening,
Craig
Thanks for being with us. I have been so busy along with my team.
You know, I've been saying this for about a month and, and it's
right. We have some fantastic free training coming up. We have a
course also coming up. It is going to be a killer month. Yes,
indeed. That's kind of a hint, a killer month. All right, anyway,
take care, everybody. We will be back. Just don't expect as much
output from me this week with lives and everything else. Take care.
Bye-bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
---
More stories and tech updates at:
Don't miss an episode from Craig. Subscribe and give us a rating:
Follow me on Twitter for the latest in tech at:
For questions, call or text:
855-385-5553