Secret code

“ Among the items found on that occasion were some 2,400 scratch pads of the type used in numbers operations, thousands of coin wrappers, a police alarm radio, with a secret code of police calls, two high-frequency radios, and six fictitious automobile registrations with license tags. ”

“ It might still have remained possible for the real secret of the letter to have been concealed in an unknown code—as one may learn by reference to the brief mention of ciphers and codes in an earlier chapter (See “Arts of the Operatives”) . Therefore, a first-class mystery story, indeed the best detective story of all those the League chiefs have sent in, still remains for any wise doctor who can solve it. It is easier to write a “detective story” than it is to read a cipher and double code, because a story-writer knows his own answer, whereas in the other case, no one knows the real answer. ”

“ There were seventeen pages of updated and illegal access codes to computer systems across the country. Another reason NEMO was so secret. Didn't want just anybody climbing the walls of their private playground. Can't trust everyone to live by the Code.
Steve finished downloading the files from NEMO's distant data base and proceeded to print them out for a hardcopy reference. He laughed to himself. Big business and government never wizened up. Predictable passwords, like 'secret' were about as kinder- garten as you could get. And everyone wonders why folks like us parade around their computers. ”

“ I reported the matter to the Secretary and he asked me to give you the details."
"You are certain that the cipher was there last evening?" asked the chief.
"Not the cipher itself—at least not a code-book as the term is generally understood," explained the Under Secretary. "That's one of the beauties of the Carruthers system. You don't have to lug a bulky book around with you all the time. A single slip of paper—a cigarette paper would answer excellently—will contain the data covering a man's individual code. The loss or theft of one of these would be inconvenient, but not fatal. ”

“ Grammatical Code—A Tête-a-tête—Confidences—Misconstrued Message Leads to Domestic Tragedy—Local Codes—An Altered Message—An Important Mission—Shadowed—Attempted Thefts of Papers—A Contretemps—Leakage of News from England—Watching a Suspect—False Message Discloses an Open Code—Geometrical Codes—The Knot Code—A Fascinating Actress, a Confiding Attaché, and a Mysterious Chess Problem—Cleverness of French Secret Service.
No reader must expect or anticipate a disclosure of the direct methods which the British Secret Service uses for communicating with headquarters. ”

“ On the other hand, when Secret Service agents are working abroad they must perforce rely upon codes of sorts, for means of intercommunication between themselves, their friends and supporters. These codes are invented by them entirely at their discretion. If they are wise in their generation they never keep the same code too long in use, but change it, at frequent intervals, for another entirely different in every respect. Such codes cannot be too carefully prepared; whilst every user knows that if his deception is discovered the consequences to himself might be serious indeed. ”

“ Individuals may use a code that requires a "Key," because they wish to keep their matter secret from others. There may be for them a penalty on truth, but why Deity should write in a secret language, and then wait two thousand years before making the matter plain, and then to one single woman in Boston, is [Pg 346] incomprehensible. ”

“ Various departments of governments have also their own departmental secret service, for the better guarding against frauds, such as in the United States, the Treasury Department and the Post Office.
The various European codes generally have dealt with breach of secrecy, e.g. s. 300 of the German Penal Code imposes a fine up to 1500 marks and imprisonment up to three months on doctors, attorneys and other professional persons who reveal a secret entrusted to them in their professional capacity. ”

“ The terms “code,” “cipher,” and “cryptographic system” include in their meanings, in addition to their usual meanings, any method of secret writing and any mechanical or electrical device or method used for the purpose of disguising or concealing the contents, significance, or meanings of communications ”

“ Plaintiff must also show that the trade secret was misappropriated, or that the trade secret was obtained through improper means and that the Defendants knew or should have know that the trade secret was obtained through improper means when they posted it or its derivative to the Internet. (Civil Code Section 3426.1 (b) ) Although the parties dispute the who and how, the evidence is fairly clear that the trade secret was obtained through reverse engineering. ”

“ The letter bears every evidence of having been a serious attempt to communicate information of more or less value to the enemy and appears to permit of further decoding through the use of some additional cipher. It is by no means sure that the ultimate code for it will not be found by some expert government man in Washington. The world little knows what marvels of unraveling secrets is done in the Intelligence work of the Government. Always the battle goes on between those trying to make codes that cannot be read by an outsider and those who say they can master any code if given time. ”

“ In the context of software tools that enable people to reclaim their freedoms, all end-users have and should have the right to secure and use tools that are free from the surreptitious insertion into their software of "backdoors," "spy-ware," escrow mechanisms, or other code or techniques that might promote surveillance, or subvert security (including cryptographic security) , confidentiality, anonymity, authenticity and/or trust. ”

“ As more information about sweeping government surveillance of law­abiding Americans is made public and the American people can discuss its impacts, I believe more Americans will speak out. They’re going to say, in America, you don’t have to settle for one priority or the other: laws can be written to protect both privacy and security, and laws should never be secret. ”

“ They have two or three experts in cipher at the Foreign Office whose business it is to decode all secret messages, plans, documents, and treaties of which the Secret Service obtains possession. Now, those are the men whom they will trust to handle them, not the keeper of a curiosity shop in Westminster. ”

“ Let us consider fraud. There again the precautions are so rigid that many people pronounce the forms a nuisance. I confess that I do not. I regard them as a means of protecting my own property and I cheerfully sign my name and give my password, which the manager compares with his record-book before he releases the first lock of my safe. The signature is burned before my eyes in a sort of crucible there, the password is of my own choosing and is written only in a book that no one but the manager ever sees, and my key is the sole one in existence. ”

“ Where such unauthorized disclosure could reasonably result in exceptionally grave damage to the national security, the information may be classified as “Top Secret” and must be properly safeguarded.
11. Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) means classified information concerning or derived from intelligence sources, methods, or analytical processes, which is required to be handled within formal access control systems. ”

“ Whenever a combination has been subject to possible unauthorized disclosure. (2) Equipment out of service. When security equipment is taken out of service, it shall be inspected to ensure that no classified information remains and the combination lock should be reset to a standard combination of 50-25-50 for built-in combination locks or 10- 20-30 for combination padlocks. (d) Key operated locks. When special circumstances exist, an agency head may approve the use of key operated locks for the storage of Secret and Confidential information. ”

“ It's impossible to read it without the key. Has the office ever used a cipher code?"
"Just what I was asking," said the m.e. "Hustle everybody up that ought to know. We must get at it some way. Calloway has evidently got hold of something big, and the censor has put the screws on, or he wouldn't have cabled in a lot of chop suey like this."
Throughout the office of the Enterprise a dragnet was sent, hauling in such members of the staff as would be likely to know of a code, past or present, by reason of their wisdom, information, natural intelligence, or length of servitude. ”

“ There, injunctions have generally been granted on the theory of a breach of contract, or of an abuse of confidence. [38] It would, of course, rarely happen that any one would be in the possession of a secret unless confidence had been reposed in him. But can it be supposed that the court would hesitate to grant relief against one who had obtained his knowledge by an ordinary trespass,—for instance, by wrongfully looking into a book in which the secret was recorded, or by eavesdropping? ”

“ Before taking up some of the German code and cipher messages that have been translated, with dramatic results, it will be well to discuss codes and ciphers in general.
A code is an arrangement by which two people agree, when exchanging messages, always to substitute certain words or symbols for the real words of the message. Thus, they might agree on these substitutions:
With such a code, a German spy in New York could cable a seemingly harmless message to a friend in Holland, such as:
“The market price is 110.” ”

“ When such questions arise, they shall be referred to the agency head, a senior agency official with responsibility for processing Freedom of Information Act requests or Mandatory Review requests under this Order, an official with Top Secret classification authority, or the Archivist of the United States in the case of material covered in Section 3 - 503. That official will determine whether the public interest in disclosure outweighs the damage to national security that might reasonably be expected from disclosure. ”

“ Although Defendants argue extensively that a 40 bit encryption system is weak at best, it is undisputed that the encryption remained a secret for close to three years and was limited in its strength by certain international export regulations. Under the law, a system to protect secrecy does not become unreasonable simply because a clever thief finds a way to penetrate the security. (E.L. du Pont de Nemours & Co., inc. v. Christopher, (CA5, 1970) 431 F.2d 1012) Under these circumstances, the Court is satisfied that Plaintiff has shown a likelihood of prevailing on the issue of trade secret. ”

“ Article 40
⁠Where, in cryptography work, a staff member of cryptography administrative departments or other relevant departments or entities abuses his or her power, neglect his or her duties or practices favoritism for personal gain, or discloses or illegally provides to others trade secrets or individual privacy he or she has learned in the course of performing his or her duty, the said staff member shall be punished in accordance with law. ”

“ DEFINITIONS— Section 3077 of such title is amended— (1) by striking ``and ́ ́ at the end of paragraph (6) ; (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (7) and inserting ``; and ́ ́; and (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph: `` (8) ``act of espionage ́ ́ means an activity that is a violation of— `` (A) section 793, 794, or 798 of title 18, United States Code; or `` (B) section 4 of the Subversive Activities Control Act of 1950. ”

“ Special statutes protecting exclusive access to and use of computer systems 97. In many countries, since the 1980s, the protection of computer data by the general provisions of trade secret law and intellectual property law has not been considered to be sufficient. In response to the new cases of hacking, many States developed new statutes protecting a "formal sphere of secrecy or privacy" for computer data by criminalizing illegal access to or use of another person's computer, thereby also protecting the computer data contained therein. ”

“ Experience shows that the most cunningly constructed cryptograph, if suspected, can and will be unriddled.
An unusually secure mode of secret intercommunication might be thus devised. Let the parties each furnish themselves with a copy of the same edition of a book--the rarer the edition the better--as also the rarer the book. In the cryptograph, numbers are used altogether, and these numbers refer to the locality of letters in the volume. For example--a cipher is received commencing, 121-6-8. ”

“ This feeling was not unnatural, since the detection came through a discredited channel, the spotter. Rare are the circumstances where secret service should be necessary. There is something inherently wrong in any system which has to gain routine information by indirect methods. ”

“ Whether the threat to publish highly secret documents is of itself a sufficient implication of national security to justify an injunction on the theory that, regardless of the contents of the documents, harm enough results simply from the demonstration of such a breach of secrecy. ”

“ That way, Sally, the new secretary, can start out getting into the computer only for word processing. Helen, the payroll clerk, can have access to confidential salary information but not a top-secret budget that doesn’t give her the raise she’s been pestering you about. Questions exist about the effectiveness of passwords and codes, at least when the thieves or snoops may be sophisticated, but that’s another story. Most experts will tell you that anything that can be coded can be cracked. The trick is to make it not worth the criminals’ time and resources. ”