Was failure of the 1st batch of memory cards for the PCOS intentional??

[ghosthunter]

Taken from another discussion group...

By the way, now that the elections are almost over...

BASED ON OUR SECURITY ANALYSIS, DEFECTIVE FLASH CARDS FROM SMARTMATIC WERE INTENTIONAL.

Smartmatic knew that it was high risk to include the CORRECT Flash cards in the machine upon delivery because it would go and be stored in a comelec warehouse and several drop off points -- a security risk because the machines would sit two-three months outside your jurisdiction. It would be then easy for COMELEC hackers to copy the source code. Proof we feel is that the second batch of flash cards for Makati sent last thursday immediately worked AND the list of local officials on the ballot side were blank on the defective flash cards -- which means in the eventuality that a smartmatic flash card source code was copied it would not work because the local officials are missing. The defective Flash Cards also did not include the transmission server address for the results.

So, why didn't Smartmatic just send the cards two or three days before election instead of going thru the hassle of putting in defective flash cards? It was the COMELEC that required that the PCOS machines be delivered with source code on the Flash Cards at the onset.

Our Noypi consultant is a security expert and a hacker. It was a suspected counter measure but only confirmed with the 2nd Makati pcos testing and sealing last Thursday when the 2nd card worked perfectly. For Smartmatic to recall all the cards meant they were prepared to copy all the 76000 in publci in two days and ensure that the cards will arrive at the eleventh hour in front of all the watchers to prevent anybody from getting or stealing the cards. Of course may mga kaunting sabit pa rin. With the card in such a public place instead of a COMELEC warehouse, the source code would be secure. Also given the eleventh hour arrivals of the flash cards, it would be close to impossible to decode (may encryption pa rin raw), rewrite, sell and redistribute the code on the flashcards within a 24 hour period.

Also, take note that COMELEC Commisioners will also surprised. As early as two weeks ago, we had heard that some COMELEC Officials had been asking money for local positions.

So the last minute delivery of the correct memory cards was scripted to prevent hacking?

[claRkEnt]

if this theory is true, then it was a good and smart move by Smartmatic. this is a try to protect their business interest and record. Any anomaly/scandal in the election results would reflect sa image nila and losing future opportunities sa Asian region who are interested in automating their election system

[CVT]

Agree with you bro.,- brilliant move by Smartmatic, kung totoo nga ito....

E bakit sabi ng PCOS kay Erap,- "Congratulations!"... E di iyon, ayaw mag-concede.... :bwahaha:

9909:gotcha:

[Monseratto]

So it was for the good of the country afterall. We got a clean election and no one is protesting the result yet, except that flower mayor from Manila...

[Mile2]

In hacker or penetration specialist world, it is called "honey pot" (decoy) to potential hackers.

[shadow]

see? kudos to Smartmatic.

[boybi]

Smart move by Smartmatic, if this is true.

[niky]

Interesting theory... actually seems quite credible since the second batch worked on the first try with no issue, and the company somehow managed to "reflash" tens of thousands of cards within a week... both are incredibly fantastic... verging on the impossible... for a tech company within such a short period of time.

Pure genius.

[shadow]

paging on ULS...baka meron bagong theory..

[170kphlang]

a classic example of "if you want to fool the enemies, you must fool you're friends first".

if this is true, i don't blame smartmatic. the end justified their means.

[Galactus]

paging on ULS...baka meron bagong theory..

Bakit si uls? Dapat si OB/GM ang pine-page mo. Mas outlandish (at mas nakakasuka :puke yung mga theories nun, hehehe.

Di siguro puwedeng mag-comment si uls dito. Wala namang involved na oil, finance or money matter dito eh

[shadow]

Bakit si uls? Dapat si OB/GM ang pine-page mo. Mas outlandish (at mas nakakasuka :puke yung mga theories nun, hehehe.

Di siguro puwedeng mag-comment si uls dito. Wala namang involved na oil, finance or money matter dito eh

marami post si ULS about sa automated election.

[uls]

hehe

no comment ako ngayon dito

all i can say about Smartmatic is -- if you have a hold-departure order on your ass, you better not screw up

[kotiko]

I'm not buying it.

Comelec hackers? Those guys can barely even provide a good website for themselves, and as we all know majority of the employees there are old fashioned people. The government isn't really good in procuring the right people for IT projects most of the time. NBI could barely even catch "hackers".

Obviously Smartmatic really blundered on the flash cards. No project manager would have wanted something like that to happen, especially with the logistical nightmare that comes with it.

They simply overlooked the difference of the formatting of the new ballots since they were still basically using the old vertical sample ballots with no double-spacing every time they would do a demonstration.

They had enough people working the hours to be able to reconfigure the flash cards, so it wasn't really surprising.

A lot of those IT/security know-it-alls had been talking before the elections about cheating and vulnerability crap. Well, all they did was talk, talk, and talk.

[shadow]

hehe

no comment ako ngayon dito

all i can say about Smartmatic is -- if you have a hold-departure order on your ass, you better not screw up

uls, nasama mo ba itong topic sa mga theories mo? di ko maalala eh

[vito corleone]

kung totoo nga ito, it was a brilliant strategy to corrupt-proof the machines. . .naisahan ang comelec

thumbs up to smartmatic!. . .kung totoo, ha

[uls]

uls, nasama mo ba itong topic sa mga theories mo? di ko maalala eh

you mean mga scenario

hindi po

hindi ko po naisip na pwede planado ng Smartmatic ang last-minute change of memory cards

and i don't think anyone here thought of that before the elections

ikaw po ba naisip mo yun? (di ko maalala)

things are always clearer AFTER things happen

you can only understand an event perfectly AFTER the event happened

it's called 20/20 hindsight

in hindsight, magaling ang Smartmatic

they were able to pull off the gig

[CVT]

I'm not buying it.

Comelec hackers? Those guys can barely even provide a good website for themselves, and as we all know majority of the employees there are old fashioned people. The government isn't really good in procuring the right people for IT projects most of the time. NBI could barely even catch "hackers".

A lot of those IT/security know-it-alls had been talking before the elections about cheating and vulnerability crap. Well, all they did was talk, talk, and talk.

Assuming na totoo ang na-quote ng TS,- here is my comment on the highlighted,- Comelec can buy that particular service or expertise outside of their organization, with tons of money that they can collect from whoever wants to desperately win the election....

9909:gotcha:

[Mile2]

They simply overlooked the difference of the formatting of the new ballots since they were still basically using the old vertical sample ballots with no double-spacing every time they would do a demonstration.

IMO, it was not overlooked.

The alibi of not having the 2nd page not in proper coding was unacceptable to any software developers. It raises a lot of eyebrows, knowing that a finished product would still have to pass QA/Test team and User acceptance testing before being deployed.

All we can conclude that day was it was an alibi to cover up security issues.

A lot of those IT/security know-it-alls had been talking before the elections about cheating and vulnerability crap. Well, all they did was talk, talk, and talk

True, project outsiders all can do is to create scenarios and then comment. As for Smartmatic/TIM we should not expect full disclosure of security details since their main objective is to secure the entire system. BTW TIM our local company is serving most of the Banks and large government institutions with IT needs like backup mainframes and data processing. Smartmatic and TIM would protect their integrity as companies since they have large steady customers aside from COMELEC.. IMO.

[Altis6453]

If it was true, then it was a pretty good strategy by Smartmatic.

However, you can't use the same ruse 3 years from now when elections will once again come to fore.