Canadian election databases use "canary traps"—and they work

In a world awash in high-tech security tools like passkeys, quantum-safe algorithms, and public-key cryptography, it can be refreshing to get back to the simple things... like a good old-fashioned canary trap.

The canary trap is a simple tool often used to identify leakers or double agents. To make one, you simply share a document, image, or database but make tiny changes that are unique to each recipient. That way, if those changes show up verbatim in any leak of the information, you know immediately which recipient was behind the leak.

You don't often see canary traps in the news, though they have long been a staple of spy fiction (and practice), so an account out of Canada last week caught my eye.

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