Philippine government seeks a few good hackers

Web-based election system to undergo 'penetration testing'.

The Philippines government has issued a call for domestic and foreign hackers to undertake penetration tests on its new internet voting system.

The system will allow Filipinos overseas to register and vote in national and local elections over the internet.

A trial of the system, which the government wants hackers to try and subvert, will use a sample of 26,800 Filipinos living and working in Singapore.

"The software is covered by an international patent and has been declared secure by no less than the government of Switzerland," Florentino Tuason Jr, Commissioner on Elections, told the Manila Standard.

"But we want to be really sure, so we are inviting professional hackers to do the testing."

Singapore was chosen as a test site because it is technologically advanced and has a high volume of Filipinos in college or employment. The election will be held from 10 July.

The government has also asked for help from the non-profit International Foundation for Electoral Systems to get international or professional hackers to test the security of the system.

Set up by HP and Spanish firm Sctyl, the voting system has already been used in Europe and is due to be introduced in the UK shortly.