Creator of Greater Sudbury fake voting website 'shocked' by oversight

A Sudbury man is raising concerns about the city's online voting website after he was able to create a fake version of it.

David Duffy said he did so to prove the point the city had overlooked a potential problem.

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Duffy said he stumbled on to the matter when he typed the wrong web address into his browser as he went to cast his ballot online.

He entered GreaterSudburyVotes.com instead of GreaterSudburyVotes.ca.

"I was shocked that nobody had purchased that site as a redirect."

Realizing the "dot-com" domain was available, Duffy said he jumped on the chance and made a copy of the official website, just to make a point.

"Could it be possible that greater oversights exist for people who are more savvy,” he asked.

Duffy said his version didn't record voter information or web hits, nor were people able to cast ballots.

He took the site down Wednesday night.

A technology expert at Laurentian University said the city could have bought spin-off domain names to prevent fake sites from taking root.

"That's what you got to think of is all the different ways that people may have access to your website,” Luc Roy said.

The city of Greater Sudbury has issued a statement saying the security of its official voting website has not been compromised, and it has turned the matter over to police.

In the interim, the city is asking voters to be wary of fake voting websites.

But, Duffy argued more needs to be done than issuing a warning.

“If I had wanted, there would be nothing to stop me from taking this information and then, with the information that I could have [collected through the fake site] … I'd be able to log into the real site and I could vote however I wanted to vote.”

Greater Sudbury reports its official voting website has not been compromised.