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Anonymous threaten to attack the Greek elections

04 May 2012 / 14:05:37  GRReporter
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Greek police are concerned that the hackers of Anonymous might possibly attack the system processing the election results. Over the past few days, members of the service fighting electronic crimes and representatives of the Ministry of the Interior, where the results will be submitted, have been holding continuous meetings to ensure the maximum safety of the electronic system. At the same time, it is being considered how to respond in case of massive attacks on the electronic system.

"We know that the processing of the election results this Sunday is a huge opportunity for Anonymous to make the most impressive attack before the eyes of millions of Greek citizens. We have information on this and we fear that it could really happen. The system of the Ministry of the Interior is secured against attacks by experienced hackers. Yet the procedure is a challenge for Anonymous," senior police sources indicated.

According to them, the police and the Ministry of the Interior will be in a state of high alert to prevent electronic attacks even on Saturday. At the same time, a special system of mutual information and immediate response to the detection of a suspicious electronic trail will be operating in order to promptly discontinue any malicious action.

Authorities’ concerns have been confirmed by a video of Anonymous, uploaded on the Internet a few hours ago. In it, they accuse the Greek "puppet" politicians of defrauding the people of Greece and making decisions without asking them. They also warn that they will answer back on Sunday, 22:00 Greek time. "Anonymous around the world will stand by the Greeks. We fight alongside the Greeks, who have to fight for their freedom once more. Noone is more powerful than all of us together."

 
Not only are the responsible authorities for the announcement of the election results concerned about their falsification but also the staffs of the so-called "small" parties. They have taken the momentum of excellence from the polls and said that they have available information that an election fraud is being prepared in order to boost the two-party system.

According to "exclusive and verified information," which can be found in the online edition newsbomb.gr, the leaders of SYRIZA and Independent Greeks Alexis Tsipras and Panos Kamenos received "reliable information" about the preparation of an election fraud. It states, "On the election day, 6 May, an attempt of a "scientific" falsification of election results will be made in order to strengthen the two major parties and make them reach the "magic" 50%, which will render them politically legitimate to govern together under the orders of the Troika and the creditors."

The author of the publication refused to comment on the essence of the fears. However, the author published the opinions of an "expert in these matters." He stated, "Falsification can be achieved by interfering with the program processing the election results. It may be an insignificant interference so as not to cause violent reactions, but sufficient to change the results."

Here is how this can happen according to the "expert." "The electronic counting system accepts data such as the addition of 100 votes for PASOK or New Democracy. While the operator is entering the figure 100, the system may record 105 votes for either of the two major parties. Respectively, the votes for the Communist Party or SYRIZA will be 98 instead of 100. In this way, the strength of both major parties could be increased whereas that of the small parties will drop."

SYRIZA and Independent Greeks are concerned that the purpose of manipulation is to make the sum of the election results of PASOK and New Democracy slightly over 50%. Thus, the possible joint government will be completely legitimate.

The particular "expert" even stated that something similar had happened in the elections in 2000, when PASOK won from New Democracy with a difference of only 2 thousand votes. He recalled that on the election night, while New Democracy had a slight precedence, the flow of results was stopped for about an hour. When resumed, the results already indicated precedence for PASOK and the party won the election with a difference of only one percent.

 

Tags: PoliticsElectronic system for election resultsHackers' attackAnonymousFalsificationAlexis TsiprasPanos Kamenos
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