Microsoft wants to protect data elections with open source platform

Microsoft has announced an open source SDK to help secure elections. The software uses SEAL, Microsoft’s implementation of homomorphic encryption.

The ElectionGuard software is intended for existing and new voting systems and is intended to help with election security and verification. Microsoft is collaborating with Galois on development. According to the companies, the software allows voting computers to be verified end-to-end and individual citizens can use it to check that their vote has been counted. In addition, third parties can validate that the elections have not been tampered with.

Microsoft does not provide further details. The SDK should be available on GitHub this summer and Microsoft is working with several companies on pilots for upcoming elections. The technique works with SEAL. This is a homomorphic encryption software library that Microsoft releases under an MIT license. Homomorphic encryption offers the possibility to perform calculations on encrypted data, without the need for decryption first. The result of the calculation also remains encrypted. As a result, data can be processed by parties, without those parties having access to the content.

Microsoft also announces Microsoft 365 for Campaigns. This is a Microsoft 365 business subscription for political parties and campaigns, which Microsoft believes can improve security in their work. Part of the offer is AccountGuard, which warns politicians about targeted threats. Microsoft 365 consists of Windows 10, Office 365 and additional security services. With the offer, the company is responding to increasing concerns worldwide about influencing elections.