Enhanced Stegano-Cryptographic Model for Secure Electronic Voting

The issue of security in Information and Communication Technology has been identified as the most critical barrier in the widespread adoption of electronic voting (e-voting). Earlier cryptographic models for secure e-voting are vulnerable to attacks and existing stegano-cryptographic models can be manipulated by an eavesdropper. These shortcomings of existing models of secure e-voting are threats to confidentiality, integrity and verifiability of electronic ballot which are critical to overall success of e-democratic decision making through e-voting.This paper develops an enhanced stegano-cryptographic model for secure electronic voting system in poll-site, web and mobile voting scenarios for better citizens’ participation and credible e-democratic election. The electronic ballot was encrypted using Elliptic Curve Cryptography and Rivest-Sharma-Adleman cryptographic algorithm. The encrypted voter’s ballot was scattered and hidden in the Least Significant Bit (LSB) of the cover media using information hiding attribute of modified LSB-Wavelet steganographic algorithm. The image quality of the model, stego object was quantitatively assessed using Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Structural Similarity Index Metrics (SSIM).The results after quantitative performance evaluation shows that the developed stegano-cryptographic model has generic attribute of secured e-voting relevant for the delivery of credible e-democratic decision making. The large scale implementation of the model would be useful to deliver e-voting of high electoral integrity and political trustworthiness, where genuine e-elections are conducted for the populace by government authority. Keywords: Electronic Voting, Cryptography, Steganography, Video, Image, Wavelet, Securit

The Development of eServices in an Enlarged EU: eGovernment and eHealth in Estonia

In 2005, IPTS launched a project which aimed to assess the developments in eGoverment, eHealth and eLearning in the 10 New Member States at national, and at cross-country level. At that time, the 10 New Member States were Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, and Slovakia. A report for each country was produced, describing its government and health systems and the role played by eGovernment and eHealth within these systems. Each report then analyzes, on the basis of desk research and expert interviews, the major achievements, shortcomings, drivers and barriers in the development of eGovernment and eHealth in one of the countries in question. This analysis provides the basis for the identification and discussion of national policy options to address the major challenges and to suggest R&D issues relevant to the needs of each country ¿ in this case, Estonia. In addition to national monographs, the project has delivered a synthesis report, which offers an integrated view of the developments of each application domain in the New Member States. Furthermore, a prospective report looking across and beyond the development of the eGoverment, eHealth and eLearning areas has been developed to summarize policy challenges and options for the development of eServices and the Information Society towards the goals of Lisbon and i2010.JRC.J.4-Information Societ

E-voting: an immature technology in a critical context

E-voting has been introduced prematurely to national elections in many countries worldwide. There are technical and organizational barriers which must be resolved before the use of e-voting can be recommended in such a critical context. Two fundamental requirements for e-voting systems are in con ict: ballot-secrecy and accuracy. We describe the nature and implications of this conflict, and examine the two main categories of proposed solutions: cryptographic voting schemes, and Voter Veried Audit Trails (VVATs). The conflict may permanently rule out the use of remote e-voting for critical elections, especially when one considers that there is no known way to reproduce the enforced privacy of a voting booth outside the supervision of a polling station. We then examine the difficulty faced by governments when they procure Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems in general, and some mitigation strategies. We go on to describe some legal implications of the introduction of e-voting, which could have serious consequences if not adequately explored, and discuss the evaluation and maintenance of systems. In the final chapters we explore two approaches to the development of requirements for e-voting

Electronic Voting

This open access book LNCS 13353 constitutes the proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Electronic Voting, E-Vote-ID 2022, held in Bregenz, Austria, in October 2022. The 10 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 39 submissions. The conference collected the most relevant debates on the development of Electronic Voting, from aspects relating to security and usability through to practical experiences and applications of voting systems, also including legal, social, or political aspects, amongst others

Electronic Voting

This open access book LNCS 13353 constitutes the proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Electronic Voting, E-Vote-ID 2022, held in Bregenz, Austria, in October 2022. The 10 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 39 submissions. The conference collected the most relevant debates on the development of Electronic Voting, from aspects relating to security and usability through to practical experiences and applications of voting systems, also including legal, social, or political aspects, amongst others

Electronic Voting: 6th International Joint Conference, E-Vote-ID 2021, Virtual Event, October 5–8, 2021: proceedings

This volume contains the papers presented at E-Vote-ID 2021, the Sixth International Joint Conference on Electronic Voting, held during October 5–8, 2021. Due to the extraordinary situation brought about by the COVID-19, the conference was held online for the second consecutive edition, instead of in the traditional venue in Bregenz, Austria. The E-Vote-ID conference is the result of the merger of the EVOTE and Vote-ID conferences, with first EVOTE conference taking place 17 years ago in Austria. Since that conference in 2004, over 1000 experts have attended the venue, including scholars, practitioners, authorities, electoral managers, vendors, and PhD students. The conference focuses on the most relevant debates on the development of electronic voting, from aspects relating to security and usability through to practical experiences and applications of voting systems, also including legal, social, or political aspects, amongst others, and has turned out to be an important global referent in relation to this issue

Sixth International Joint Conference on Electronic Voting E-Vote-ID 2021. 5-8 October 2021

This volume contains papers presented at E-Vote-ID 2021, the Sixth International Joint Conference on Electronic Voting, held during October 5-8, 2021. Due to the extraordinary situation provoked by Covid-19 Pandemic, the conference is held online for second consecutive edition, instead of in the traditional venue in Bregenz, Austria. E-Vote-ID Conference resulted from the merging of EVOTE and Vote-ID and counting up to 17 years since the _rst E-Vote conference in Austria. Since that conference in 2004, over 1000 experts have attended the venue, including scholars, practitioners, authorities, electoral managers, vendors, and PhD Students. The conference collected the most relevant debates on the development of Electronic Voting, from aspects relating to security and usability through to practical experiences and applications of voting systems, also including legal, social or political aspects, amongst others; turning out to be an important global referent in relation to this issue. Also, this year, the conference consisted of: · Security, Usability and Technical Issues Track · Administrative, Legal, Political and Social Issues Track · Election and Practical Experiences Track · PhD Colloquium, Poster and Demo Session on the day before the conference E-VOTE-ID 2021 received 49 submissions, being, each of them, reviewed by 3 to 5 program committee members, using a double blind review process. As a result, 27 papers were accepted for its presentation in the conference. The selected papers cover a wide range of topics connected with electronic voting, including experiences and revisions of the real uses of E-voting systems and corresponding processes in elections. We would also like to thank the German Informatics Society (Gesellschaft für Informatik) with its ECOM working group and KASTEL for their partnership over many years. Further we would like to thank the Swiss Federal Chancellery and the Regional Government of Vorarlberg for their kind support. EVote- ID 2021 conference is kindly supported through European Union's Horizon 2020 projects ECEPS (grant agreement 857622) and mGov4EU (grant agreement 959072). Special thanks go to the members of the international program committee for their hard work in reviewing, discussing, and shepherding papers. They ensured the high quality of these proceedings with their knowledge and experience