Quote: "...easy to create a crypto scheme that appears to be rock solid, but that contains a fatal weakness..."
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@JohnFen Usual assumption here is that encryption is ALWAYS based on mathematics, prime numbers, and so on (like RSA,PGP). Look up the Beale Papers. Two out of three documents have remained private for more than one hundred years.
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Why is this? The cipher texts were not created using mathematics or prime number schemes. They were created using a book cipher, and the book used for the message which was deciphered has been found, but the book used for the other two messages is still unknown......despite lots of effort over the intervening time.
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Now there's another problem for the so-called "good guys". Even if the "bad guys" use priate ciphers with a "fatal weakness", they still have the advantage that they can read messages immediately....while the "good guys" will need to wait a while to decipher the message....maybe weeks, maybe months, or in the case of the Beale messages....over a century!!!
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Here's an example of a message enciphered with a book cpher....it no doubt has a "fatal weakness"...so you can publish the plain text when you've figred it out.
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0fnm0pae1bFe1S530PLw1XIz1D9l1Mze1PUp08Jt
0WI41GfP0r4G0t8b0KDf0Zcr122E1fDf0tdQ0qC=
15ey16NV1SIs0Kha17yX030D0Sgn1TOc0FsG1HkJ
0D$60FY11ilQ0iqQ02SH13zQ0Ngc1R2I1Bnw0Kg=
1aZa08Mi0vGa1gT$1Cng1Gyf0CD=0QgA1H5N1MtK
1WKg1ZbY09v10U0I13Nc1nvn0Zmb06cl14vv1b9n
10pf0EgW1Guj1hIB12w=05Qx14do0u2C1Gwq0a9B
0wJo1Jgn150j1gup0hWb1hqu10zG0c6V0wV40o3b
00Li19JA1keP1pkk13cV088802pB1RSV0Bji09FC
1fIZ0spI1akT0N8R1ZqJ09KC06vO0iVh0uCS0GIU
067R17wD1F0Y1kaf0r56002n0gEo0WdS0ufV1aEm
1Ygy0R$a15hT1guC1p8P0b8Q1R3h1Wp40$=q0D8w
0mOD0lyU0zaZ1O7r17Oj0FzC1FDq0q4F18xx07IR
1R1p0z1h0z7I0yDW1Xev16wL1kog01S914MC0lr7
0PVJ04cK12Hq1GpV1cgE1L5N1QRI1dZf09kf1TgH
1jfJ1kDE1RHI0i3k0Pt$0ZEp0RKR0nvJ0hGv0QND
0KZv0z$k0maA1Ad90UaA0Tbr1Z5G0zsD05it1ZkQ
0b1K1ozz147s0zHa01hl0=jR0lvj0O9X1ciu17xe
1R2l1Z2A0$7f0FVS03zN1azW1Efo1oQN09XI0Y5=
0QMc1f400rmT1TeG1IPc03QI0QAW1BGe15rA1r1v
0BVz07Zl10yd1MmA0zmn0SGa0Ny51Hi60Yr809GJ
12Nt0L2r1Dm80IVe0pZ=1Vgj0Jow0OuS0VNX0oxk
0kA=06WJ0yvt0pc90NWG1QvU1Rdg1e3k1V=d1Fuj
1PNw1Gaz0KJD0fPd1KmV0uTj0kzF1LDs1inF0jLl
0Vma13Tu113f1HA61kTT10RM0jao1Jst0E6603Ks
09AL1FWq1jYR0t890XsZ0$Dp1j1V1bbk1Ye2
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