The biggest security lesson from last night’s Iowa caucuses: It doesn’t take a hack for technology to undermine confidence in an election.

The spectacular failure of a mobile app that was supposed to forward caucus results last night — which are still not out, as of this morning — is a striking example of how faulty technology can spark questions about election results and create an opening for misinformation and conspiracy theories.

“These kinds of technical issues and operational delays play right into the game plan of malicious actors,” Maurice Turner, an election security expert at the Center for Democracy and Technology, told me. “[They] can leverage these small facts and turn them into viral misinformation messages speculating about hacking or corruption being behind the irregularities.”

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Iowa shows how technical errors can “can cause doubts that independently undermine confidence in results,” said Nathaniel Persily, Co-Director of Stanford Cyber Policy Center:

nathaniel persily @persily – 16 h

The misguided apoplexy of cable news pundits unable immediately to announce winners and blaming (perhaps correctly) a component of the election night reporting infrastructure is an object lesson in how perception hacking could work in the general election.

nathaniel persily @persily

As I and others have been arguing, the technology involved beyond the polling place — including, in particular, the election night reporting system— can cause doubts that independently undermine confidence in results.
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8:20 PM – Feb 3, 2020
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