A German hacker group named Chaos Computer Club (CCC) has completed their own investigation into the security of the election software used for the coming German presidential elections and concluded that the results were very unsatisfactory.

Chaos Computer Club

The CCC wanted to blow the whistle before it was too late to do anything about it. According to their research the security was of such an appalling level that members of the hacker group fear for the course of the coming elections and the security of its result. Commissioned by the research several members of the CCC started to attack the software from the outside to test its strength against hacks. The results were terrifying according to the hackers and proved that the software was extremely vulnerable. Even the election results would be in serious danger of any manipulation from the outside.

PC-Wahl

The program, which is called PC-Wahl, is supposed to miss several key components in regards to its online security. Even the server used for the distribution of the software was an easy target for hackers. No form of digital encryption is used for the sending of election results via the software. The hackers could even get access to the server meant for software updates with little to no effort. Almost every aspect of the software in regards to online security was seriously subpar. That’s why the CCC hopes that some drastic changes are to be made before the elections start in Germany. They suggest releasing the source code for further inspection and rewriting the software in a more safe programming language.

Official reaction

In the meantime the German government has responded to the wakeup-call sent out by the CCC and assures people that it has started to collaborate with the software manufacturer to improve the level of security drastically. They also planned a few security tests of their own regarding the election software.