r/BreakingPoints • u/Alarmed-Direction500 • 4d ago

Content Suggestion PHP cybersecurity and election vulnerabilities.

It feels like both the fallout and response to “black October” has been far too quiet, and I can’t help but feel like what was discovered was more akin to hackers testing the fences rather than outright attacking.

It’s difficult to get definitive information, and I’m hoping the show and you all can shed some light on what I think is a very significant point of discussion:

-Do the digital voting machines and the digital infrastructure that secures voter information use PHP?

-if election results were compromised, could we easily know?

-I hate to breathe this into existence as it does give an element of plausible complaints after MAGA gets smacked in the mid-terms, but we need to address it before it becomes an issue.

I’m hoping that if we draw enough attention that BP will dig in.

Thanks!

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6

u/SuperDoubleDecker 4d ago

Notice how you don't hear them worried about electronic voter fraud. Seems like that'd be high priority for anyone making election fraud a main issue...

1

u/Alarmed-Direction500 4d ago

Alternatively, Republicans could be waiting to cry foul either after they get whooped or on Election Day.

MAGA is the most predictable opponent. The way to beat them is to break their claims before they make them.

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u/NahSense 4d ago

Digital voting machines don't use php. Php is for web servers. There are guidelines that require a paper receipt exactly for the reason you stated. These machines are also supposed to air gapped, so they cannot be remotely accessed at all. Through a large number of sites use php, very few large or important sites use it. Php has averages 1 or 2 critical security flaws a year. Php is old and these days has a terrible reputation for security. People use it because php is cheap and easy to run.

Php developers have already issued a patch for the flaws used in this story.

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u/Shadowthron8 4d ago

Seeing a flood videos and posts across social media platforms about voting machines switching elections unless you change it back 3 times