Even cybersecurity experts make simple mistakes. Here’s the real lesson

Turns out that helming the forefront of cybersecurity is not a shield from basic mistakes. Such was the lesson buried in a talk at RSAC 2026, where a pioneer in cryptography recapped a notable slip-up last year: A whole election failing because someone lost their part of an encryption key.

(Yep.)

While discussing the field of cryptography during a panel talk, Whitfield Diffie referenced the International Association of Cryptography Research’s ill-fated leadership election, which took place last November.