Washoe County Elections Compromised

Washoe County’s election integrity is in question following the discovery of Albert Sensors within its closed electronic election system.

At issue is technology in a system purportedly designed to be secure and isolated. An Albert Sensor is designed to prevent cyber intrusions within the election system and is back-engineered to transmit data.

The sensor transmits data packets to the Center for Internet Security (CIS) and other entities. If the election systems are not connected to the Internet and are air-gapped and closed-looped, there should be no need for an Albert Sensor.

However, the existence of the sensor contradicts the stated security measures and raises questions about its purpose. Also concerning is the involvement of CIS and its political connections, including The Democracy Fund, which provides partial financing to the so-called non-profit.

“We can also collaborate with you to write custom signatures to detect specific types of malicious activity on your network,” reads the CIS website regarding its Albert Sensors.

As the Albert Sensor introduces vulnerabilities, no one wants to answer why a device that creates a new pathway to the Internet is part of a system that is supposed to be isolated. Additionally, there are concerns about the limited access to the Election Management System (EMS) and whether the Albert Sensor undermines these security protocols.

Then there is the matter of the law as the use of an Albert Sensor appears to violate the Voter Bill of Rights, the Nevada Administrative Code (NAC), and Nevada Revised Statutes 197, 281A, 283.440, 293, and 293B.