Evaluation of Electronic Voting

by Volkamer, Melanie

• ISBN13: 9783642016615
• ISBN10: 3642016618
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-06-01
• Publisher: Springer-Verlag New York Inc

Summary

Electronic voting has a young and attractive history, both in the design of basic cryptographic methods and protocols and in the application by communities who are in the vanguard of technologies. The crucial aspect of security for electronic voting systems is subject to research by computer scientists as well as by legal, social and political scientists. The essential question is how to provide a trustworthy base for secure electronic voting, and hence how to prevent accidental or malicious abuse of electronic voting in elections. To address this problem, Volkamer structured her work into four parts: "Fundamentals" provides an introduction to the relevant issues of electronic voting. "Requirements" contributes a standardized, consistent, and exhaustive list of requirements for e-voting systems. "Evaluation" presents the proposal and discussion of a standardized evaluation methodology and certification procedure called a core Protection Profile. Finally, "Application" describes the application of two available remote e-voting systems to the core Protection Profile.The results presented are based on theoretical considerations as well as on practical experience. In accordance with the German Society of Computer Scientists, Volkamer succeeded in specifying a "Protection Profile for a Basic Set of Security Requirements for Online Voting Products," which has been certified by the German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology. Her book is of interest not only to developers of security-critical systems, but also to lawyers, security officers, and politicians involved in the introduction or certification of electronic voting machines.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Elections and Electronic Voting	p. 1
Motivation	p. 4
Contribution, Methodology, and Structure	p. 5
Fundamentals
Implementations of Electronic Voting	p. 13
Classification of Election Forms	p. 13
Dimensions	p. 13
Categories of Election Forms	p. 14
Multiple Channel Elections	p. 19
Paper-Based Elections versus Electronic Voting	p. 19
Examples of Electronic Voting Machines	p. 21
Direct Recording Electronic Voting Machines	p. 21
Digital Election Pen	p. 22
Overview of Remote Electronic Voting	p. 23
Authentication Techniques	p. 25
Techniques to Ensure the Secrecy of the Vote	p. 27
Client-Side Voting Software	p. 32
Summary	p. 34
Related Work - A Landscape of Requirement Catalogues	p. 37
Regulations for Electronic Voting Machines	p. 38
German Federal Ordinance for Voting Machines	p. 38
Election Law of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (Germany)	p. 39
American Election Regulations	p. 40
Requirements for Remote Electronic Voting	p. 42
Council of Europe Recommendations	p. 42
Online-Voting System Requirements for Non-parliamentary Elections	p. 44
Catalogue of the Gesellschaft füet;r Informatik	p. 45
Swiss Election Law	p. 47
Austrian Election Regulations	p. 48
Network Voting System Standards	p. 49
Scientific Papers	p. 50
Result of the Analysis	p. 55
Summary	p. 56
Requirements
Process and Framework Description	p. 61
Description of the Procedure	p. 61
Election Principles	p. 65
Threats	p. 67
Syntax and Semantics	p. 67
Beyond the Scope	p. 69
Summary	p. 71
Requirements for Electronic Voting Machines	p. 73
Citation and Additional Notations	p. 73
Target of Evaluation	p. 74
Security Requirements	p. 75
Security Requirements for the Polling Phase	p. 75
Security Requirements for the Tallying Phase	p. 77
Functional Requirements	p. 79
Functional Requirements for the Polling Phase	p. 79
Functional Requirements for the Tallying Phase	p. 83
Functional Requirements for the Audit System	p. 83
Assurance Requirements	p. 84
Additional Requirements	p. 86
Usability Requirements	p. 86
Operational Requirements	p. 87
Summary	p. 90
Requirements for Remote Electronic Voting	p. 93
Citation and Additional Notations	p. 93
Target of Evaluation	p. 94
Security Requirements	p. 96
Security Requirements for the Polling Phase	p. 96
Security Requirements for the Tallying Phase	p. 100
Functional Requirements	p. 101
Functional Requirements for the Polling Phase	p. 101
Functional Requirements for the Tallying Phase	p. 105
Functional Requirements for the Audit System	p. 106
Assurance Requirements	p. 107
Additional Requirements	p. 109
Usability Requirements	p. 109
Operational Requirements	p. 110
Summary	p. 113
Evaluation
Evaluation Methodology	p. 117
Common Criteria Introduction	p. 118
Discussion of Possible Trust Models	p. 127
Trustworthy Vote Casting Device	p. 128
Compromising Encryptions	p. 133
Evaluation Assurance Level According to the Requirements	p. 135
Formal IT Security Model	p. 138
General Introduction	p. 139
Application of Available IT Security Models for Elections	p. 141
Selection of Security Objectives	p. 141
Formal IT Security Model for Remote Electronic Voting	p. 142
Summary	p. 146
Core Protection Profile	p. 149
Background, History, Motivation, and Discussions	p. 150
The GI/BSI/DFKI Protection Profile	p. 153
Introduction/TOE Overview	p. 153
Conformance Claims	p. 154
Security Problem Definition	p. 156
Security Objectives and Functional Requirements	p. 162
Security Assurance Requirements	p. 163
Comparison, Open Points, and Suggestions for Improvements	p. 164
Introduction/TOE Overview	p. 165
Conformance Claims	p. 166
Security Problem Definition	p. 166
Security Objectives and Functional Requirements	p. 173
Security Assurance Requirements	p. 173
Summary	p. 173
Application
Proof of Concept	p. 177
Procedure Specification	p. 177
The Estonian System	p. 178
System Description	p. 179
System Analysis	p. 182
The POLYAS System	p. 184
System Description	p. 185
System Analysis	p. 190
Summary	p. 190
Separation of Duty Principle	p. 195
Motivation	p. 196
'K-resilience' Approach	p. 199
Summary	p. 201
Future Work - Open Issues	p. 203
Conclusion
Summary and Concluding Words	p. 209
Appendix
List of Acronyms	p. 217
Links	p. 219
Electronic Voting Systems	p. 219
Electronic Voting Antagonists	p. 220
Glossary	p. 221
Election Terminology	p. 221
Electronic Voting Specific Terms	p. 222
Phases of the Election	p. 223
Participants	p. 225
Devices and Components	p. 225
Assessing Terminology	p. 226
Mapping: PP Glossary - Book Glossary	p. 227
Removed Requirements	p. 229
Protection Profile Structure	p. 235
References	p. 237
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