Taking seriously an apparent threat from a notorious collective of computer hackers, the Iowa Republican Party is boosting the security of the electronic systems it will use in two weeks to count the first votes of the 2012 presidential campaign.
Investigators don't know if the threat is authentic, but it has nonetheless led the state party to confront a worst-case scenario. Their fear: an Iowa caucus marred by hackers who corrupt the database used to gather votes and crash the website used to inform the public about results that can shape the campaign for the White House.

"With the eyes of the media on the state, the last thing we want to do is have a situation where there is trouble with the reporting system," said Wes Enos, a member of the Iowa GOP's central committee and the political director for Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's campaign in the state. "We don't want that to be the story."

The link for this article located at SF Gate is no longer available.