NDP leadership vote hampered by denial of service attack: [Globe and Mail]

[chrisk]

Looks like some hackers have decided to put a wrinkle into the NDP leadership vote today:

Balloting at the NDP leadership race has been delayed by outside hackers who attacked the computer system that allowed all party members to cast a ballot, whether at home or at the convention.
The party’s chief electoral officer called the various campaigns Saturday evening to let them know a denial-of-service attack had taken place.

Hackers attack NDP, delaying electronic leadership vote - The Globe and Mail

This shows the pitfalls of using the web to vote. I have always hoped that Elections Canada would come up with something to allow people to vote online but I think things like this will just discourage that from happening (even if there are competing technologies and methods to conduct a vote).

[SKYMTL]

The G&M seems to be a glass half empty type of publication....

Most of the other news outlets have been reporting that they simply received too many online ballots for their systems to handle.

[chrisk]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

The G&M seems to be a glass half empty type of publication....

Most of the other news outlets have been reporting that they simply received too many online ballots for their systems to handle.

Television coverage by CBC Newsworld is saying the same (I actually heard it on there first as I as installing a new wifi card in my lappy). They are actually reporting that the NDP got fewer online ballots than expected, and less than the system was even designed for.

edit: being reported by The Star, CBC website, and National Post as well

[KaptCrunch]

1%er still keeping control on web

[b1lk1]

Did they do it for the lulz? Who actually cares WHO the NDP picks? Layton's death is pretty much the same for the NDP.....

[chrisk]

Looks like about 10k machines a part of the DDoS attack:
NDP voting disruption deliberate, hard to track - Politics - CBC News

Scytl has identified more than 10,000 IP addresses, mostly in Canada, and that could help identify the people behind the attack, which slowed down voting and denied party members access to the website used for voting.
The firm is now conducting a forensic investigation, a spokeswoman said.
An NDP spokeswoman wouldn't speculate on what the report might say or whether it would spark a police complaint.
"People who are able to pull off these kinds of things are very good at covering their tracks," Sally Housser said. "Whether there's a police complaint] depends on when we receive more information. We’re not going to speculate until we have further information."
The Scytl release says "the required organization and the demonstrated orchestration of the attack indicates that this was a deliberate effort to disrupt or negate the election by a knowledgeable person or group."