unforum

[Crane]

Even IF violet has somehow been replaced by a copy, and I personally think it's much more likely she's merely been brainwashed, (if anything's happened AT ALL) why would the Recons change the Pic on her Blog? Why would they bother? It would only draw exactly the kind of speculation that we're now getting. I think, if the picture has any meaning, it's her trying to get a message to us that she's being watched, and can't tell us what she wants. Perhaps we should send her an E-Mail, asking her if she's in trouble, IN CODE? Maybe she could reply the same way, without alerting whoever's watching?
God I'm paranoid.

[Macavity]

What cipher(s) would you suggest? Myself, I'd run the plaintext through, a Vignere cipher first, and then either through Enigma or a digraph system.

Just a thought.

[sledgecallier]

I fail to see the point in sending a coded message? Any message sent in code will always obviously be in code. Anyone who sees xxx.qfsqmfydjuz.dpn will instantly know that they will have to unencrypt the message and there's nothing to say that the Recons are any less able to crack such a code as Violet would be. The only way something like this could work is through pre-arranged phrases, but I guess it's a bit late for that?

[Macavity]

True, but multiple layers of enciphering means that it should take longer to get to the plaintext than a single layer (heck, the Enigma cipher does up to seven levels of encryption by itself - three going in, reflection, and three coming back out).

[Violet]

Surely, seeing as all Perplexians love codes, any copy of Violet would be able to crack any code you could send a message in? Without an established code key already somebody would be able to do it

[Macavity]

Enigma uses a shifting key - say, for the sake of argument, you decided to start out by setting the M3 Enigma's three rotors to K-E-Y, with all three rotors set to tick over at Z.

Now, the right rotor of the Enigma machine rotates each time a key is pressed, and with tick-over set to Z, every time it goes from Z back to A, the middle rotor rotates one letter, and every time the middle rotor ticks over from Z to A, the left rotates a letter. Kind of like a car's odometer, only with twenty-six positions per rotor instead of ten.

So, for the first letter of the message, it would encode using K-E-Y, the second would be encoded with K-E-Z, the third with K-F-A, et cetera.

Plus, there was a plugboard on the front of the Enigma machine so that you could swap letters before they even reached the rotors by connecting cables between the plugs for the different letters (so if, for example, you connected the A and N plugs, A would be swapped for N before going into the rotors and vice versa). Also, if a plaintext letter's corresponding cipher letter is one of the two swapped letters, it'll swap the ciphertext letters as well (so, if you had an A-N connection on the plugboard, a ciphertext A would become an N, and vice versa). That little trick there adds yet another layer of security to the Enigma code.

Mind you, it wouldn't hold up to heavy cryptanalysis, but it's a good cipher nonetheless, and tricky to puzzle out if you don't have the rotor and plug settings.

[Kalt]

A quick couple notes for the purposes of speculation and subtlety...

In regards to speculation: After watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex a bit, my focus has turned a bit to jewelry, and how people identify themselves through it. Could her bracelet or wristwatch (Unclear in the picture) or necklace have any significance? The chain of her necklace is shown in the new picture, however the pendant and her wrist ornament are obscured.

Have we tried using steganography (sic/potential malapropism, I mean the encoding of data into image files) on either her old or new picture? Perhaps the answer to the puzzle she has put up on her blog may indeed be the encryption key, not the access code that she says it is.


In regards to subtlety: Sending any sort of code is tough if you want to be subtle. Sending an email that seems to be just a random string of letters and numbers is not advisable, in my opinion, if you're trying to get the email by Recons or anyone else who may be monitoring the mail. If anything, you want it to look like a regular note or message containing nothing threatening.

On the other hand, it's hard as hell to create logical sentences and phrases when you're aiming for a certain letter out of every seven :p

[Macavity]

Or they might simply pass it by as gibberish

Recon One: "Hey, look at this!" *points at Enigmafied message*

Recon Two: "Hm? Ah, that's just gibberish. Never mind about it."

[Crane]

actually i was thinking of something a Little more subtle. I don't Know much about Encoding messages To conceal what's truely there, However I do have Some ideas...

[tanner]

SPEC

read violet instead of patricia hearst and recons instead of Symbionese Liberation Army
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/2854/patty.htm

/SPEC
.

[Leeravitz]

Nice theory...Patty Hearst came from a moneyed and highly influential background too, you know...that's her grandfather Citizen Kane's based on...

[tanner]

yeah i know -- thats why the theory --- revolutionaries kidnap rebel
daughter of establishment hero

[leakingpen]

the recons are fundies. a full body image would be enticing and alluring (yes, yes it is) and thus wrong. might be a possible reason to take it down to the head.