Democratic Governance: A Review of Secured Digital Electoral Service Infrastructure

Introduction

The need to develop a secured Digital Electoral Service Infrastructure is nowadays becoming more prominent than ever before. The benefits users and administrators get to experience is overwhelming and not to mention the ease of use when we compare the traditional electoral system compared to a digital electoral system. The concern for the digital electoral system lies in the security aspects of it. With potential breaches, if a digital electoral system is exploited by attackers, it would lead to an enormous political unrest within the nation. A lack of trust in a digital electoral system majorly contributes to why traditional methods are still vastly used till this very day. With most governments thinking it is too much of a risk to take, they opt for the more reliable yet tedious approach that are profound in traditional electoral systems. This brings us to the next crucial element when implementing a digital electoral system, which is cybersecurity. Cybersecurity serves as a protective layer for internet-connected systems. This includes protecting hardware, software and data that makes up the system. Physical security is also required in protecting against unauthorized access to secured data centers. Among the elements we associate with cybersecurity includes application security which ensures that there are no vulnerabilities in the web page or application being used; information security which safeguards critical information of voters; network security in which channels used in the system has to be secured to access the application; data recovery strategies in situations where unforeseen problems arise; operational security where the systems are built without operations which could hinder the grade of security and end-user education whereby voters are given in-depth knowledge on how to operate and navigate within the system.