Earlier this week I posted about a hacker who broke into the Florida voting database to demonstrate how vulnerable it was (click here for original post on hacked Florda voter database). True to form, Florida officials downplayed the entire incident, stating that Florida elections were now more secure than ever.

Not to be dissuaded, our intrepid hacker has struck again, this time publicly posting a file directory from the voting database with the message “Glad you cleaned things up, pretty secure now guys” (click here for original article on the re-hack).

So this begs the question: Are the Florida officials incompetent or simply liars?

As bad as online security is, I think perhaps the worst aspect of the problem is that those in authority either don’t understand the problem themselves, or perhaps in their petty behind-covering mentality, refuse to acknowledge the problem.

In either event, I doubt that “the powers that be” in Florida have thanked their lucky stars that this guy or gal has only been interested in illustrating his point…not in actually causing any real damage. They seem more interested in trying not to look bad. To that end, they simply throw out that it is a felony to tamper with a voting database and if/when caught, this perpetrator will get jail time.

In my opinion, they ought to thank this hacker…but…since he offended their pride, I doubt that will ever happen. Humility and politics rarely mix.