Security considerations for electronic vote tabulators - ITSM.10.102

The use of ballot counting systems, also known as vote tabulation technology, to replace manual ballot counting during democratic elections is gaining wider adoption. These technologies can help improve the efficiency of the ballot tabulation process, as well as reduce human-related errors during the ballot counting process. This publication provides guidance on the cyber security considerations and system requirements for deploying vote tabulators during democratic elections. It highlights the key risks, threats and safeguards that elections management authorities should assess when considering ballot counting systems. Table of contents Scope Electronic voting Figure 1: Generic elections system architecture Ballot counting and tabulation Types of vote tabulators Threat analysis Security control considerations Physical and hardware security Lifecycle security Continuous risk assessment Protect your data Network isolation safeguards Secure access controls Validate and authenticate devices Patches and system updates Secure application development Audit log monitoring Business continuity Educate users Security control effectiveness Conclusion Adopting digital technologies to improve t