Prep for NIST/EAC Meeting: Status and Issues February 24, 2006 Mark Skall Chief, SDCT ITL
Jan 08, 2016
Prep for NIST/EAC Meeting:Status and Issues
February 24, 2006
Mark Skall
Chief, SDCT
ITL
Content
Background Recap of 2005 Activities New VVSG Work Issues
Background: NIST “Help America Vote Act” Responsibilities
Chair Technical Guidelines Development Committee (TGDC)
Provide technical support to TGDC in the development of voluntary voting system guidelines including:
Human factors Security Methods to detect and prevent fraud
Accredit testing labs (NVLAP)
Activities Since 9/05 TGDC Meeting October 2005: NIST Threat Analysis for Voting Systems
Workshop
November 2005: VVSG 2007 Timeline approved by EAC
November/December 2005: Assisted EAC in VVSG Comments Resolution
December 2005: Final VVSG adopted Dec 13, 2005 EAC to publish final version February 2006
January/February: Continued VVSG 2007 development Preparation for March 2006 TGDC meeting
SOW signed
Threat Analysis Workshop Held October 2005, NIST Goal was to arrive at general agreement on justifications for security
requirements Most major players from academia and election community All threats and analysis were public
General agreement that the workshop was effective at focusing work on specific threats (as opposed to speculation)
Follow-on planned for June, 2006 with George Washington U. Extensive threat analysis report being considered with Brennan
Center Recommendations for voting system requirements Recommendations for election officials
VVSG 2005 Comments Resolution EAC asked NIST for assistance Significant 45 day effort, led by EAC NIST analyzed comments and provided input,
EAC made final determinations Many (50%) are to be addressed in 2007 version NIST awaiting all comments/resolutions from
EAC for use in 2007 development
Final 2005 VVSG
Final version expected to be published in Federal Register within next weeks
VVSG 2007 Timeline Reached agreement with EAC on general timeline of
VVSG development Final delivery date is July 2007 Staged modules of new requirements
VVPAT – April 2006 Usability – July 2006 (may now be Fall 2006) IV (Independent Verification) – Jan, 2007
EAC will handle subsequent public reviews and comments for each module Ramifications of time/effort required for NIST staff unknown
Major Goals for VVSG 2007 A comprehensive standards guideline, a complete rewrite
of 2002 VSS with updated and expanded material, to: Provide complete and comprehensive guideline for vendors and
test labs Provide clear, usable requirements discussion with associated
test methods Address security and human factors developments since 2002
VSS Respond to all TGDC Jan’05 resolutions Must also address comments submitted for VVSG 2005
VVSG 2007 Overview 4 major sections (plus large overview):
A product standard, containing general and voting-activity related requirements (e.g., setup, cast, count, …)
A terminology standard (NIST glossary) A standard on data to be provided by testing
authorities or the vendor A testing standard including all test methods, testing
requirements, evaluation guidelines, test cases, etc.
Current Status
Work underway in HFP, CRT, and STS More outreach to EAC, election
community, and vendors Preparation for March TGDC meeting
Outreach Efforts NIST reaching out to vendors, election
community for input and data ITAA-sponsored vendor teleconferences Q&As with vendors on accuracy and security issues Presentations/talks at NASS, NASED, The Election
Center, State governments Involvement with NSF-funded ACCURATE group More workshops planned (e.g., threat analysis,
cryptographic voting protocols)
ACCURATE A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable,
Auditable, and Transparent Elections Funded by NSF for 7.5M Mainly academic researchers
Research appears useful to NIST requirements development
NIST invited to attend ACCURATE workshops, Sharon Laskowski on ACCURATE board
Closer working relationships planned
Current HFP Work Lab populated with systems from major vendors
– for usability research and metrics development Working with contractors on white papers,
usability benchmarks Tests involve human subjects, required for
accuracy and time-to-vote requirements Issues with usability module for July, 2006
HFP White Papers for TGDC Meeting
"Progress Report on the Development of a User-Based Conformance Test for the Usability of Voting Equipment”
"Overview of Proposed Human Performance Metrics for Voting Systems“
"Guidelines for Writing Clear Instructions and Messages for Voters and Poll Workers“
"Ballot Design Guidance"
Current CRT Work Various VSS and VVSG 2005 issue resolution Requirements conformance specification
Definition of voting system classes, conformance definitions Test methods development Voting by activity requirements development
Pre-voting, casting, counting, reporting requirements Performance and workmanship requirements
development Continued glossary development
CRT Deliverables for TGDC Meeting
Hardware/Software performance requirements
Workmanship requirements Casting, counting, reporting requirements
Current STS Work Requirements development for general security
Access control, cryptography
Open-ended testing white paper IV research, VVPAT update Threat Analysis workshop Outreach with ACCURATE, other groups
STS Deliverables for TGDC Meeting
Access Control requirements General Cryptography requirements Open-Ended Testing requirements VVPAT update
Possible EAC Issues
NVLAP voting system test lab accreditation issues
EAC Internet Voting requests Revisiting the timeline
NVLAP Issues 3 potential test labs scheduled for pre-assessments in March, April,
May 3 day on-site visits NVLAP requests EAC, extensive NIST involvement NIST to recommend labs to EAC within 12 months of VVSG 2005
publish (in FR?) Optimistic schedule is Winter, 2006 Possible 4th lab for next round of pre-assessments
EAC has interim approach to use existing ITAs EAC implication that NVLAP is behind schedule – not true EAC implication that NVLAP-level accreditation of existing ITAs
occurred earlier – not true
Internet Voting
Unclear what EAC needs or requires TGDC, security community against
Internet voting NIST staff fully occupied with current
deliverables
Timeline
EAC may wish to revisit timeline Need to coordinate module reviews with
TGDC, Standards Board meetings Election cycles impact meeting schedules EAC may favor certain material for earlier
development over other material