Avi Rubin Quotations

I don't think with today's technology we can have a voting system that is fully electronic that can be trusted.

It's the concept of having a computer voting machine that bothers me, more so than the specific poor implementation that we have from Diebold.

My position hasn't changed over the years. Which is that online voting is a very unsafe idea and a very bad idea and something I think no technological breakthrough I can foresee can ever change.

Many of the touted advantages of electronic voting can still be achieved with paper ballots if you use a computerized ballot marking scheme.

If our financial industry regarded security the way the health-care sector does, I would stuff my cash in a mattress under my bed.

People's computers are not getting more secure. They're getting more infected with viruses. They're getting more under the control of malware.

I've been saying all along that my biggest fear is that someone would program a machine to give a wrong answer. If that were to happen, the machine would still work fine - we just wouldn't know it.

As new generations [of computers] come out, usually there are increased complexity and features, [that lead to] increased security problems. Plus, other industries have shown that every new generation has its own set of security problems.

What we did is important because we proved that virtually all of the wireless networks used by companies and hospitals are completely open and offer no protection for the data on them.

In any election, it's important that the public perceives that the election is held fairly.

It is a complete and devastating break of the security of wireless networks.

I think that, you know, looking at all the systems that I've been studying over the last several years, that paper ballots with a precinct optical scan counters and random audits is the best system that we can have.

Our country moved to electronic voting in public elections before the technology was ready, ... This center will develop the fundamental science necessary for secure, accessible, trustworthy and transparent voting.

People have jumped on the electronic voting bandwagon, thinking that will solve the problems, ... But these systems are largely untested.

You have to attack your own system in order to understand how hackers are attacking your system and how to defend against them.

Somebody with questionable moral judgment isn't someone you want to have control of your networks.

The basic idea behind a paper trail is that you take one of these electronic systems and you augment it with a printer that prints out people's vote as they vote.

In any election, it's important that the public perceive that the election is held fairly.

In the car industry they have to build with safety in mind. Car makers couldn't get away with this. They're more concerned with the bottom line and profits, and that's upsetting.

I don't think vendors are going to build in privacy protections if there is no incentive for profit.