ES&S Windows 10-based Operating Systems Certified by Federal Election Assistance Commission

Certification part of ongoing efforts enhance elections for 2020 and beyond

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Sep 24, 2019, 15:12 ET

OMAHA, Neb., Sept. 24, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the Federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) certified Election Systems & Software (ES&S) voting systems using Windows 10 operating systems. The newly certified release, ES&S EVS 6.1.0.0, will now be sent to respective states for state testing and approval.

"We are pleased the EAC has approved our Windows 10 release," said Steve Pearson, ES&S Senior Vice President of Certification. "We look forward to working with election officials and delivering this update to our customers quickly and efficiently."

EVS 6.1.0.0 introduces significant product design enhancements to several existing ES&S products for a more fully integrated system and reinforced security. Those enhancements include a new ExpressVote® ballot layout design and previewing controls into the Electionware® Touch Screen Ballot module.

ES&S will be communicating and working with customers to deploy updates to their systems as they are approved. In the meantime, Microsoft will offer state and local election officials free security support for Windows 7 operating systems used in voting systems through 2020.

This Windows 10 upgrade is just the latest step being taken by ES&S to enhance election systems prior to the 2020 elections. Additional steps include:

Working in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), to submit ES&S' end-to-end voting systems to the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for penetration testing and vulnerability assessment.
Collaborating with the Elections Industry-Special Interest Group, which is part of the Information Technology Information Sharing and Analysis Center (IT-ISAC), to build a coordinated vulnerability disclosure (CVD) program, the next step in the industry's gradual move to work more closely with ethical hackers.
Joining with both the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC) and the IT-ISAC to take advantage of the significant cyber threat sharing channels these groups support.
Requesting and installing Albert sensors in our hosted voter registration environments in order to detect and thwart any potential indicators of compromise. Albert is a unique network security monitoring solution that provides continuous remote monitoring and delivery of automated alerts on both traditional and advanced network threats for state and local jurisdictions, allowing election jurisdictions and ES&S to respond quickly when data may be at risk.
Providing numerous election security training sessions, presentations, and discussions for state and local election officials who use our equipment to continue to educate and inform them of best practices for securing election equipment and processes.

"ES&S is continually looking for ways to strengthen and enhance our systems to provide secure and reliable elections for America's voters," said Chris Wlaschin, ES&S Vice President of Systems Security. "Our partnerships with Microsoft, DHS, as well as federal, state and local officials are just part of the team effort which makes our nation's elections systems stronger and more secure."

ABOUT ES&S: Election Systems & Software's visionary approach to election equipment, software and solutions has helped improve the voting experience throughout North America for nearly 40 years. We are committed to developing integrated voting solutions that improve the marketplace and are flexible enough to meet multiple jurisdictions' needs and voter preferences. Learn more about ES&S at www.essvote.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/essvote.

SOURCE Election Systems & Software