Architecting Trust Into U.S Elections

SICPA, a long-time partner to governments and global leader in authentication, identification and secure traceability solutions and services, today announced a new election security solution developed in partnership with Guardtime, specialists in enterprise-level cyber security and critical infrastructure protection, to provide blockchain-enabled protection of voter registries.

In light of reports of unauthorized tampering in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, officials at all levels of government have been seeking ways to strengthen voters’ confidence that their personal information is secure and that their Constitutionally-guaranteed right to vote is protected. At root is the imperative that every vote is recorded properly and counted accurately.

According to its 2018 Handbook for Elections Infrastructure Security, the nonprofit Center for Internet Security noted that “the most significant risks to voting infrastructure affect those components with network connections. Examples include many voting registration systems.” The solution developed by SICPA and Guardtime provides responsible elections officials with a tool to ensure the integrity of voter registries. The solution seamlessly integrates with existing voter registration and voting systems, and leverages proven KSI® Blockchain technology to provide:

• An immutable record of registration information
• Real-time intrusion detection
• Indisputable tamper evidence
• Increased voter transparency

“In partnership with Guardtime, our solution creates a secure digital platform for voting data that is resilient and resistant to attempted intrusions. SICPA is excited to leverage our decades-long experience in providing unparalleled security for banknotes, identity documents, and other regulated products to help ensure that sensitive voter information is protected and the integrity of the voting process enhanced.”

“For the past decade, Guardtime has been committed to working with government agencies, companies, and other organizations to provide network security and ensure the reliability of sensitive data,” said Guardtime CEO Mike Gault. “We are keenly aware of the security challenges facing America’s election infrastructure, and are excited to work with SICPA to offer a solution that utilizes innovative blockchain technology to protect voters’ private information and provide greater ability for election officials to identify any abnormalities or attempted intrusions.”

The solution offered by SICPA and Guardtime helps address multiple threats associated with voting data: it secures the integrity of sensitive voter registration data, including addresses and dates of birth, from intrusions designed to compromise personally-identifiable information and allows election officials to more reliably identify abnormalities in voter registration data, including registered voters who have been improperly added or deleted.

About SICPA

SICPA is a trusted global provider of security inks as well as secured identification, traceability and authentication solutions. With high-technology security inks at the core of its expertise, the company protects the majority of the world’s banknotes, security and value documents, and a wide range of consumer and industrial products. It offers solutions and services ensuring product authentication, traceability and protection as well as tax reconciliation. www.sicpa.com

About Guardtime

Guardtime is the world's leading blockchain platform company whose products are deployed in production by the world's largest defense, telecom and financial services companies. Our business model is to build long term strategic partnerships with governments and companies that are leaders in the field. We work together, leveraging our KSI® Blockchain platform to build new solutions and take them to market. Products in production include blockchain-enabled secure government registries, marine insurance underwriting, software lifecycle management and enterprise data privacy compliance.