Venezuela is immersed in one in all its deepest political crises, following the presidential elections held on Sunday, July 28, whose legitimacy is presently the topic of controversy. The main target of the controversy lies within the veracity of the election outcomes and regardless of the uncertainty, there may be one factor that’s plain: the electoral data have a degree of inviolability corresponding to that maintained by the Bitcoin community all through its 15-year historical past.
In keeping with Gerardo Prado, a pc scientist from Venezuela, the electoral data which might be issued by the voting machines of the Nationwide Electoral Council (CNE), They’re protected by an encryption system and digital signatures.
Because of this every doc has a hash (alphanumeric code) which, as indicated by the CriptoNoticias Bitcoin schooling academy, refers to the results of changing a message of any measurement into an alphanumeric sequence utilizing a hash operate. This operate mixes and transforms the data right into a fixed-length code, which might solely be deciphered with particular keys, thus defending the unique content material.
As we talked about earlier than, the precept of inviolability of the electoral data of Venezuela is similar as that of Bitcoin expertise. It must be remembered that this protocol, which carries 15 years working with out hacks or technical issuesrelies on the SHA256 algorithm.
In itself, SHA256 is without doubt one of the quite a few kinds of algorithms that exist to create hashes on completely different platforms with varied capabilities starting from doc authentication, digital signature verification and cryptocurrency mining. The SHA (Safe Hash Algorithm) sequence was designed by the American Nationwide Safety Company (NSA) and contains SHA256. This was the identical algorithm chosen by Satoshi Nakamoto to run the Bitcoin blockchain.
Within the electoral case, the SHA256 algorithm performs a number one position. It’s because the operate generates a novel hash for every electoral report or voting pollwhich may be verified when the votes are totaled. Any discrepancy implies that the outcomes have been altered.
On the whole, SHA256 ensures information integrity, stopping anybody from modifying transactions (or votes). It’s because the algorithm itself is a type of excessive safety.
Within the case of the Venezuelan elections, the digital signatures of the electoral data have the HMACSHA256 format, that’s, they’re composed of two algorithms. The primary one, HMAC, and the second, SHA256. In keeping with Prado, though this isn’t the most effective mixture that may very well be chosen for these circumstances, “it’s fairly widespread.”
In Venezuela, the electoral data have digital signatures in QR code format. These present the votes that the report comprises and permit, in a scrutiny and audit course of, the originality of the doc is verified. To do that, the hash or signature of the QR code should be calculated once more, and if it’s the identical because the one on the report, it implies that it’s legitimate and was printed by a CNE voting machine.
“Briefly, the CNE can at all times show {that a} report is legitimate and solely wants the QR code and the digital signature,” says Prado. One thing that coincides with the feedback of the journalist specialised in elections, Eugenio Martínez, who clarifies that, to confirm the originality of an electoral report, The authenticity of the hash and digital signature of the doc should be audited.
In keeping with Prado, with the digital key it’s attainable to recalculate the signature and examine it in opposition to the signature that seems within the report. If they’re equal, “then the report is unequivocally actual”he claims.
“It’s because the one option to have arrived on the identical signature is to have used the identical enter, the identical key and the identical message,” he stated. He then added that solely the voting machine that issued the electoral report “is aware of the important thing.”
Due to this fact, “solely the voting machine can situation legitimate signatures.” And though an attacker can create false data, “he can’t create false signatures as a result of he doesn’t know the important thing,” he explains.
The above implies that the electoral data in Venezuela are virtually inviolable since to ensure that them to be falsified, All parameters should match completely cryptographicwhich may be very troublesome to attain. This, Gerardo Prado recollects, is “a assure that’s given within the earlier audit processes” carried out by the CNE.
Disaster in Venezuela
Since final Sunday, July 28, Venezuela has been dealing with a brand new section of political disaster. On that day, presidential elections have been held which were severely questioned. It’s because not all the electoral data have been revealed.
Venezuela’s CNE introduced the outcomes round midnight on Sunday in a primary bulletin, which allegedly included 80% of the whole votes. In keeping with these outcomes, the present president, Nicolás Maduro, received with greater than 5 million votes and the primary opposition candidate, Edmundo González, He got here in second with simply over 4 million votes.
The Venezuelan opposition didn’t acknowledge the election outcomes and relied on the minutes to defend itself. These have been issued and delivered to the witnesses on the voting tables on election day, in accordance with what the electoral regulation dictates of that nation.
The opposition says they have already got it of their possession greater than 80% of the electoral data. In addition they declare that these give Edmundo González the victory with greater than 8 million votes, effectively above Maduro, who would have obtained simply over 3.5 million.
Nearly 5 days after the election, The CNE has not but made the electoral data publicThey declare that since Sunday they’ve been victims of a hack originating in North Macedonia and allegedly orchestrated by the opposition.
On the night of Tuesday, July 30, Maduro stated that the electoral physique is underneath a “robust cyber assault” and that’s the reason the minutes haven’t been revealed. Earlier than that, nevertheless, he promised the Judiciary to ship “100% of the minutes.” that his celebration apparently has at hand.
This alleged assault has not been confirmed up to now. In truth, the cybersecurity agency Kaspersky indicated that no assaults have been recorded on Venezuela in the course of the presidential elections. That is additionally denied by pc scientist Jesús Lara, who claims that he has “not discovered proof” that there was a cyber assault on the Caribbean nation.
