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Terminal Compromise

by Winn Schwartau

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Crypt Key

Alex Spiradon chose 43. Each communication he had with Homosoto was also protected with full encryption. If someone was able to isolate their conversations, all they would get would be sheer garbage, a screen full of unintelligible symbols and random characters. By choosing 43, Alex told his computer and Homosoto’s computer to use Crypt Key 43, one of over 100 secret keys that both computers held in their memory. This cryptographic scheme, using the U.S.’s Data Encryption Standard, DES, and ANSI standard X9.17 was the same one that the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve used to protect the transmission of over $1 trillion of funds transfers daily.

<<<<<<TRANSMISSION ENCODED>>>>>>

That was the signal for Alex to send the first words to Homosoto.

Good Morning, Homosoto-San.

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