U.S. governors, hackers, academics team up to secure elections

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(Reuters) – Ethical hackers will team up with U.S. governors, academics and others to help prevent election results from being hacked, according to a person familiar with the plan.

The coalition’s members include organizers of the Def Con hacking conference, the National Governors Association, the Center for Internet Security, the Atlantic Council and several universities, said the person, who was not authorized to discuss the alliance ahead of a formal announcement on Tuesday.

The coalition will be unveiled as Def Con organizers release a report describing vulnerabilities in voting machines and election computer systems that were uncovered in July at the convention’s first ever “voting village.”

Hackers pulled apart voting machines and election computers at the three-day event, uncovering security bugs that organizers said could be exploited by people trying to manipulate election results.

Full details of their findings will also be released on Tuesday.