NIST Voting Program Barbara Guttman 12/6/07

NIST “Help America Vote Act” Responsibilities Chair Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC) Provide technical support to TGDC in the development of voluntary voting system guidelines including Recommend independent labs to the EAC for accreditation

Page 3Voting Program Activities Update TGDC Background Created by HAVA 15 members, different disciplines Chaired by NIST Director NIST performs research and technical support Delivers recommendations to the EAC

NIST/TGDC Committee Structure & Coordination TGDC resolution (July ‘04) established 3 subcommittees: Security and Transparency (STS) Human Factors and Privacy (HFP) Core Requirements and Testing (CRT) Each subcommittee has NIST staff assigned to it

Page 5Voting Program Activities Update NIST & the TGDC NIST performs research for the TGDC TGDC makes recommendations to the EAC NIST does the technical writing of the VVSG

NIST/TGDC Activities July 2004: 1 st plenary session of TGDC May 2005: Provided initial recommendations for voting system guidelines (VVSG 2005) Sep 2007: Provided next set of recommendations for voting system guidelines (Next VVSG)

Page 7Voting Program Activities Update Why are there two versions of the VVSG? HAVA required initial recommendations from the TGDC in 9 months VVGS 2005 limited due to timeframe – incremental improvement to the 2002 VSS There was a need to develop comprehensive, updated requirements for voting systems Therefore, TGDC developed two versions: VVSG 2005 is an update of the VSS 2002 Next VVSG is a complete re-write

Page 8Voting Program Activities Update What is in the Next VVSG? Complete re-write of VVSG 2005 in all areas Usability and Accessibility Security Core Requirements

Page 9Voting Program Activities Update VVSG Major Re-Organization Part 1: Equipment Requirements Part 2: Documentation Requirements Part 3: Testing Requirements in Parts 1 and 2 reference general test methods in Part 3

Page 10Voting Program Activities Update Walk Through of Requirements Human Factors & Privacy Usability, Accessibility, Other Security & Transparency SI, Innovation Class, IVVR, Other Core Requirements & Testing Reliability, COTS, Other

Page 11Voting Program Activities Update Software Independence Voting systems must be SI Accuracy of the election must not rely exclusively on the accuracy of the voting system software Accuracy of the system’s electronic records will be able to be independently audited against an independent voter-verified record (IVVR) Systems that do this currently are paper-based e.g., optical scan, VVPAT

Page 12Voting Program Activities Update Innovation Class Next VVSG includes an Innovative Class The VVSG will allow for developers to create new and innovative, possibly paperless, voting system approaches that would still be independently auditable and conform to the next VVSG This may include newer, cryptographic-based systems that potentially promise greater usability and accessibility as well as security

Page 13Voting Program Activities Update Other Security Radio-Frequency (RF) wireless is no longer permitted for use on voting systems Requirements for test labs to conduct open-ended vulnerability testing on voting systems to search for vulnerabilities Requirements to digitally sign electronic records for integrity and to identify each record by machine and election Requirements for all software to be digitally signed and verified before being permitted to load or run on voting system Other security areas: access control, auditing, event logging, and physical security

Page 14Voting Program Activities Update Reliability Benchmarks Voting system quality, reliability (MTBF), and accuracy requirements updated To improve voting system design and testing techniques To ensure that voting systems are robust and work properly Replaced MTBF method with volume testing (based on CA’s) Worked with NASED to develop number and types of allowed failures

Page 15Voting Program Activities Update COTS COTS testing requirements re-written To make clearer whether to exclude certain COTS products from in-depth source code reviews Definition of unmodified COTS narrowed Modified COTS grouped into several categories, each with its own testing requirements

Page 16Voting Program Activities Update Other Core Requirements Conventions for software coding were examined E.g., requiring software languages that contain improved integrity and security constructs To promote quality systems, requirements for vendors to comply with ISO 9000/9001 Updated electrical, clarified requirements for all voting activities

Page 17Voting Program Activities Update Discussion