Ex-MI6 boss warns over electronic voting risk

Sir John Sawers told the BBC that casting a ballot with pencil and paper was "actually much more secure." He warned: "The more things that go online, the more susceptible you are to cyber attacks."

Campaigners for electronic voting said there was "no evidence" it was more open to fraud. Electronic voting allows people to make their choices via a computer or smartphone, instead of people having to go to a polling station.

'Robust systems needed'

Sawers' warning comes after the US government accused Russia of hacking into the emails of leading Democrats and interfering in the recent presidential election. This has increased concerns among security experts as to whether vital national electronic systems are vulnerable to malicious disruption by other countries.

Sawers, head of MI6 from 2009 until 2014, told the BBC Radio 4 documentary The New World: Axis of Power, which examines the state of international tensions between the world's leading powers: "We need to have systems which are robust," he said. "The only trouble is, the younger generation of people expect to be able to do things remotely and through electronic devices."

"Bizarrely the stubby pencil and piece of paper that you put your cross on in the ballot box is actually much more secure than anything which is electronic."

At: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-38408296