Honduras Takes Significant Precautions to Protect Upcoming Election from Hacking

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Nov. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On Sunday, the Honduran Supreme Electoral Tribunal hosted top officials from the United States, the European Union, and the Organization of American States to showcase the speed and security of Honduras's election software prior to the November 26 national election.

Following a successful simulation of Election Day procedures, Supreme Electoral Tribunal President David Matamoros called the election software "robust, impervious to any cyberattack, [and] completely shielded."

During the simulation, trained election officials at more than 2,000 polling stations across Honduras uploaded test results to a secure server operated by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, or TSE. The server stripped the voting data of party affiliation to prevent bias during vote processing. The results were then compiled and verified at a TSE headquarters in Tegucigalpa. The entire simulation was conducted in under two hours.

Matamoros added that vote processing was unaffected even when TSE triggered an intentional power outage to test the system's reliability.

"Today's simulation at @TSEHonduras gave us the chance to observe the actions that will occur on 26 Nov for a more complete understanding of the electoral process," said U.S. Chargé d'Affaires Heide Fulton, who attended the simulation, on the U.S. Embassy to Honduras's official Twitter page.

Matamoros unveiled TSE's election server earlier this month. On Election Day, observers from the EU, the OAS, and all 10 political parties participating in the election will have immediate access to images of voting results from across the country. The election data will be encrypted and unalterable. Polling station officials will be appointed by political parties. The election will not be certified until all parties and monitors have signed off on the results.

In total, more than 800 international and 6,000 domestic observers will monitor the election.

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SOURCE Republic of Honduras