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