Page 11 - GCN, August/September 2018

West Virginia to expand blockchain-based voting
BY SARA FRIEDMAN
Blockchain-based mobile voting is another step closer for West Virginia residents serving in the military overseas. In May, the state concluded a successful test of the process in Harrison and Monongalia counties during West Virginia’s primary election.
Now West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner is asking counties if they would like to participate in the next round of testing for Voatz’s blockchain- based mobile voting app in November.
“This is all new, and we want
to make sure that we get it right,” Mike Queen, deputy chief staff and communications director for the West Virginia secretary of state, told GCN. After the first tests went well, “Secretary Warner has offered [the opportunity] to some other counties that would like to offer it as an option.”
The Voatz app enables military voters who qualify under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens
Absentee Voting Act to verify their identities by providing a photo of their driver’s license, state ID or passport that is matched to a self-taken photo. Once voters’ identities are confirmed, they receive a mobile ballot based on the one they would receive in their local precinct.
Queen said the hope is that 10 to 15 counties will participate in the second round of testing. The goal is
to increase the number of options that military voters have to submit their ballots.
“Our process isn’t designed to increase voter turnout, but ultimately, Secretary Warner has charged our team and staff to find a way to make it easier and less cumbersome for military men and women to be able to vote,” Queen said.
To verify the levels of security in the Voatz platform, four comprehensive audits were conducted during the initial test of the technology in May. The audits verified that the blockchain and facial-recognition components were secure enough for the West Virginia secretary of state’s purposes.
West Virginia officials are focused on the November election in other ways as well. In July, the state held its first Elections Security and Preparations Training Conference — an effort designed to educate election clerks about cybersecurity through mock preparation activities and simulated Election Day scenarios that gave attendees practical experience for dealing with unexpected issues.
“The training experience — using the most advanced training techniques available by the nation’s leading experts in elections — now has our county clerks as the best trained election officials in the country in
the field of election security,” Warner wrote in an opinion piece. •
ReadMe
What: “The Cautious Path to Strategic Advantage: How Militaries Should Plan for AI,” a study by the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Why: Artificial intelligence could play many roles in the automation of military operations, but weighing the risks and compensating for them are crucial.
Findings: EFF researchers warn
that machine learning can be easily fooled, and reinforcement learning
— or learning from environmental interactions — produces innovative but unpredictable AI. Factor in the inherent cybersecurity advantage that attackers have over defenders, and the military’s use of AI could lead to “catastrophic forms of failure that are hard to mitigate.”
The ways to address those risks can be grouped under two principles:
1. Create an information network.
Establishing international institutions and standards for managing AI and its risks and engaging in military-to- military dialogue to share research would prevent accidental conflict and boost understanding of agreements.
2. Focus on defensive strategy.
Targeting machine learning on processes outside the “kill chain” — such as logistics, systems diagnostics and defensive cyber activities — would give defenders greater control in virtual combat zones. And conducting more research on the predictability, robustness and safety of machine learning would give the U.S. a long- term advantage in the current cyber environment, which favors high-risk offense.
Full report: is.gd/GCN_militaryAI
GCN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018 • GCN.COM 11
PHOTO: VOATZ