Playing "Solitaire"...

[alexpgp]

One of the features of the plot of Cryptonomicon is a low-tech crypto system that can be implemented with an deck of playing cards. Bruce Schneier, author of Applied Cryptography and other works, developed the algorithm for the book. (A complete description of the algorithm, with other links, can be found at the Counterpane web site.)

The idea of the system is to be able to generate secure messages without having to resort to a computer program or any sort of high-tech. For the paranoid, it represents a method of assuring secure communications that leaves no intrinsic "residue" that points incriminating fingers (as does, say, having an encrypted file or encryption program on a hard drive).

Anyway, my curiosity got the better of me last night and I started to play around with the algorithm, with a real deck of cards. After doing the required manipulations for a really short message, I compared it against the output of a Perl script I got from the Counterpane site.

I encoded the first letter of my message correctly... the rest... well...

I tried the procedure again, with the same initial setup of cards. I noticed immediately that I was getting different results while I was manipulating the deck, but again, after the first letter... well...

Third time was a charm, though.

Apparently, practice is called for before sending any messages to Garcia (or anyone else, for that matter).

Cheers...

Comments

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

I never did get it to work. I think, perhaps, that it was because I didn't know what I was doing ;)