Hack and win 100M
Was surprised to see the news that Senator Allan Peter Cayetano is offering P100 million to anyone who can hack the automated poll elections. His aim is to prove that the poll automation is subject to vulnerabilities.
Cayetano, at a press conference Friday, said that if any IT expert can establish that the system to be used in the 2010 polls is not secure from fraud and tampering, “Comelec should cancel the contract, save the P11 billion and sue for damages the contractor in the event of such successful hacking.”
The idea is great – to fool-proof the system. But anyone knowledgeable in Information Technology would surely laugh at this. Imagine, IT peeps now has the “authority” to hack the poll automation program and system. Its also like encouraging people to find the “solution” to make the poll automation not usable.
I don’t think Senator Peter Cayetano knows that there’s no such thing as a fool-proof system or program. Or maybe there is one today.. but tomorrow is a different ball game. Almost every day ( or every hour), a new technology is invented, a new program is created, something better than the other.
IT is in a “continous improvement” arena where things today is better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better than today.
So, if “hackers” will find a hole… which i’m sure they will, Senator Peter Cayetano is saying not to push through with the automation. Its just like saying don’t automate the elections.
But like what I’ve said, the idea is nice. But i suggest that instead of just finding Holes in the program and system, there should also be a “solution” part. In every problem that they find, the hackers should find a solution for it. And its not the government who should pay them, but the contractor.
I would also like to give a warning to the senator. The program/code should be highly confidential. Exposing it to “hackers” is like making it even more vulnerable to exploits. Those politicians with sinister minds could get the service of those “hackers” to re-hack the system.
I would also like to suggest that the government pool a team of IT experts from here and abroad to make them part of this historic improvement in our election system. Just relying on the comelec’s IT team or the team from the contractor is not sufficient.
There’s risk in automating the polls.. But there are also risks in everything that we do. Even one move of a finger. What should be done is to prevent the risks and/or find the solutions for this risks. Not automating the polls is not a solution, it just delays the risk from happening. If we don’t do it now, we will surely do it later on. Maybe with the same risks, or even more.
I think one of the objectives of automating the elections should not be to eradicate election fraud but to minimize it and bring it into a controlable environment. Making a fraud-free elections won’t just depend on automation but also on changing the values and culture of the politicians and electorate.
I do not really see anything wrong with what is being done here. It is premediated, and the victim is asking the “hacker” to commit the “crime”. I wouldn’t even call it a crime. They are basically testing in order to prevent actual crimes later on. Feel free to browse over to Finance Advisory Stop for some interesting information and stories.
I agree with Finance Gooroo:
The crime will be premediated, the government officials were supposed to help build a peaceful country by they are now inviting the public to commit a crime and be rewarded. What on earth happen to this man! It is now clear on my sight that this people has nothing to do with good governance but by thier own visted interest. Kung sino ang maka diba sa politika ay syang mabango sa publiko. Hahanap ng butas sa gobyerno para maging mabango sa madla! What a shame to this kind of people.
God Bless Philippines and I am hoping that the next election will bring a good public servant for the country not for those elite ones who were getting richer!
As if the COMELEC’s going to do something if the system is truly hackable.
Recently, teddy locsin challenged those “idiots” in Congress to hack the ATM. With what Caayetano said, he seemed to belong to those whom locsin had challenged. I agree with you. There is a risk in the automation but we have already seen how murky the present election system is. I think the choice is pretty much obvious. I don’t quite get it when politicians cry “cheating” if they loss in the elections but at the same time bars any move for changing the system.
100million should do the trick
But…if no one answered on that call…P 100M prize.. Does the great senator will pay the government for P100M? think first… Mr. Excellent!!!
1ooM wow… daming pera ni Cayetano naka declare ba yan sa SAL mo hehehhehe
Wow thats realy nice to hear but im sure hackers are rebels too so they better
watch out ahahaha ,100m??,, Im just asking is it realy true?, or it`s just a trap if someone
would do it ,wouldn’t they found them selves behind bars hahaha,Gush!!, I didn’t knew
politician’s here can say this, its an insult if you look at it in a way and it realy urges hackers
what there capable of….
I hope Mr.Cayetano would realy pay 100m if someone successfuly hack it…..
hayaan nyo nalang yong mga taong walang magawa sa buhay!