The former vice president questioned why INEC had not upgraded the BVAS operating system, despite what he described as the commission’s substantial financial allocation. AdvertisementHe said cybercriminals could potentially exploit vulnerabilities in obsolete software to gain unauthorised access to devices and interfere with voter accreditation records or polling unit results before their transmission. He backed calls for an independent and comprehensive audit of the BVAS hardware and software before the 2027 elections. Atiku said the audit should establish the system’s security, reliability and readiness to handle the demands of a nationwide election. He maintained that deploying critical electoral infrastructure on an end-of-life operating system could unnecessarily expand the system’s attack surface and expose the electoral process to avoidable vulnerabilities.