EXCLUSIVE: Sarasota's FL-13 Election 'Slammed' by Viral Worm Attack on First Day of Early Voting

[BradBlog]

EXCLUSIVE: Sarasota's FL-13 Election 'Slammed' by Viral Worm Attack on First Day of Early Voting
SQL Slammer Worm Breached Firewall, Took Down County Database System, Halted Voting, Rewrote Admin Passwords According to Previously Unreleased Document
Further Damagage Unknown; Disclosure to Plaintiffs, Scientists in Election Contest Unclear...

Some guy named Brad Friedman has a breaking exclusive over at ComputerWorld on the contested FL-13 election between Christine Jennings (D) and Vern Buchanan (R).

As Friedman's brilliant reportage reveals, previously unreleased documents show that Sarasota County's database network was hit by a viral worm attack on the first day of Early Voting last year. The attack, by a variant of the SQL Slammer Worm, wrought havoc on the system, bringing it to its knees for about two hours on that first afternoon of voting, leaving voters at precincts unable to cast their votes.

The article includes the previously undisclosed incident report describing what happened as the worm slammed an unprotected county server (which had been five-years behind in security patch updates), spread throughout the system, breached the firewall, rewrote administrative passwords and brought voting to a halt in Sarasota on October 23, 2006, the first day of Early Voting. An interestingly timed attack to say the least...

SUMMARY VERSION AT BRAD BLOG:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4480

FULL REPORT AT COMPUTERWORLD:
http://tinyurl.com/yp453m