Cryptology firm cancels elections after losing encryption key

[muriel_volestrangler]

A firm considered one of the leading global voices in encryption has cancelled the announcement of its leadership election results after an official lost the encrypted key needed to unlock them.

The International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR), external uses an electronic voting system which needs three members, each with part of an encrypted key, to access the results.

In a statement, the scientific organisation said one of the trustees had lost their key in "an honest but unfortunate human mistake", making it impossible for them to decrypt - and uncover - the final results.

The IACR said it would rerun the election, adding "new safeguards" to stop similar mistakes happening again.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62vl05rz0ko

It's the future, I tell ya!!!

[Orrex]

1. Try "password"

[marble falls]

2. Safe guards tend to erode security by giving more chinks in the armor. If it isn't elegant from the start, ...

... it degrades with additional parts.

[OC375]

3. My Dog Ate My Homework

The cynic in me says their system allows any one of 3 people to “veto” an election if desired.

[tanyev]

4. Whoopsie-daisy.

[lapfog_1]

5. I worked at a government agency

I was NOT in the security department. The head of that department instituted a policy of changing the "root" password on our machines every 3 months... or anytime someone with root left the agency. Soon everyone was writing down all of the major systems passwords of the day and taping the list to their ID badges. That person also went to a major white hat / black hat conference to announce just how secure our agency was.

Long story short, they got "removed" after we were hacked... management came to me and said "how would you like to run security while we look for a replacement?" And, "what things would you do differently?"

[Wonder Why]

6. I did computer security forensics years ago when most break-ins were inside jobs.

Computer security was rated below the cleaning of the outside windows in those days and stupidity was rampant.

[Javaman]

7. or they just didn't like the results and purposely lost the key LOL nt