A leading encryption company had to scrap an election for its new leadership after one of the keys to unlock the results was “irretrievably” lost, forcing them to start again.
Having up-to-date security while being online is pretty key. A lot of platforms offer two-factor authentication so that you can prove you are who you say you are if someone decides to target you.
Other platforms have high levels of encryption, meaning that messages and records are tougher to crack. These come with encryption keys that are needed in order to complete the necessary security checks.
If you don’t have these keys, then data can be lost and you’ll have to start over again. That’s been the case for The International Association for Cryptologic Research during their recent election period.
Encryption company loses key to reveal election results
The cryptology company had to scrap its election for new leadership as one of the keys needed to unlock the results was “irretrievably” lost by one member.
“Unfortunately, one of the three trustees has irretrievably lost their private key, an honest but unfortunate human mistake, and therefore cannot compute their decryption share,” they said in a statement.
“As a result, Helios is unable to complete the decryption process, and it is technically impossible for us to obtain or verify the final outcome of this election.”
The scientific company has announced that a new election process will run from November 21 to December 20, with “safeguards” being put in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
“We are deeply sorry for this failure and for the disruption it has caused; this situation should not have happened, and we take it very seriously. We respectfully ask for your understanding and patience while we remedy the problem and ensure that the renewed process is as smooth, secure, and transparent as possible,” they added.
