The Swiss government has welcomed hackers from across the world to launch attacks against an e-voting platform to boost the system's security ahead of future elections.

The public intrusion test (PIT), scheduled for between 25 February and 24 March, will see white hat hackers attempt to penetrate and undermine the integrity of the Swiss Post's system for a 'bug bounty'.

An e-voting session is scheduled for the last day of this period, 24 March, but hackers who register with SCRT, an intrusion testing company, can begin orchestrating attacks against the platform for up to a month before.

"The e-voting system is the first Swiss system that can be fully verified. Interested hackers from all over the world are welcome to attack the system," the government said. In doing so, they will contribute to improving the system's security.

"The hacker community should try to manipulate votes, read votes cast and disable or circumvent the security measures that protect votes and security-related data. The system documentation and source code must be published before testing."

Up to 50,000 Swiss francs or CHF (38,642) is being offered to hackers who successfully manipulate votes without being detected, with 20,000 CHF (15,549) offered to those who manipulate the votes but are detected.