know that the minute DARPA gets hold of anything, the American government would classify it and then declare war on us for using 'their proprietary research.' That's the excuse they used to invade Bolivia last year. Can you believe these jerks? We laughed them out of the building."
Seth smiled to himself. He privately thought that none of the DARPA guys would be smart enough to understand the algorithms even if he explained them.
"We have got someone setting up a defensive perimeter right now, don't we? How on earth did these guys just waltz in here?" he sent to Max.
"Of course, it's already set up. " Max sent back. "We just forgot to turn it on yesterday. We overestimated the intelligence of our opponent apparently. We thought they'd try to spy on us or rifle through anything we sent home. Who knew they'd just wander in? Bad news, though. There are more troops outside. They appear to be prepared to storm the place. Also some of them are roaming around, trying to poke their noses into everything. Like we don't lock our doors."
"Obviously we don't. We left the front door wide open," Seth replied. "When we get them out of here, the defense perimeter goes up and doesn't come down for anything."
Max grimaced. This wasn't his best morning ever. He heard Gloria telling Bill, "Oh yes, all Omerta employees live here in the complex. We are hiring some local contractors, but since this facility is also a UN sanctioned embassy, we really cannot have American citizens doing the work."
She paused. "You do realize you have violated UN protocols by coming in here, right? A host country may not enter the representing country's embassy. We have received no formal declaration of war. What did you hope to accomplish?"
The colonel leaned forward and answered her question. "Just because you Omerta people bought off the UN doesn't mean all that legal hocus-pocus is going to impress us here. You are in the Unites States of America now. If you are harboring enemy secrets, then you are terrorists. And we know what to do with terrorists here." He smiled like a cat looking into a goldfish bowl. Seth entertained uncomfortable visions of the prisons that America was so famous for.
Bob the Bureaucrat interrupted, "Now, we aren't looking to start a fight. We just want some help with this terrible war we are in right now and we think you people could provide that help."
"Look, seriously, enough with all the witty banter. What do you want?" Max interrupted, holding a pale hand to his throbbing head.
Bill gave a small smile. "We want access to the data in your computers concerning certain institutions and governments. Not that many. We know you advertise that your encryption methods are mathematically impossible to break, but Lineman here says they aren't." He nodded at one of the uniformed men in the back, a somewhat shabby little man who smirked at Seth. Seth looked up to make sure the cameras recorded this man. He wanted to find out exactly who this hateful little creep was.
The little creep cleared his throat. "The mathematics involved might be difficult and time consuming to solve, but not impossible." The man had a very nasal voice.
Seth tried to look shocked. "Oh? I really thought those codes were unbreakable. How shocking. Perhaps we could discuss this further sometime? How did you arrive at this conclusion, without knowing our encryption method or the equations involved?"
Seth knew perfectly well the codes were breakable. But he also knew that Omerta had the only system in the world capable of breaking them. He designed it that way. But there was no way this little worm would know that. The whole encryption method had multiple layers of code and several different security measures. The kernel of the system involved a method of randomly generating the encryption equations. Even if he explained the method, they'd never be able to crack the encryption since it always changed.
"Well, I'm afraid that's classified," Lineman sniffed.
"He knows
Seth smiled to himself. He privately thought that none of the DARPA guys would be smart enough to understand the algorithms even if he explained them.
"We have got someone setting up a defensive perimeter right now, don't we? How on earth did these guys just waltz in here?" he sent to Max.
"Of course, it's already set up. " Max sent back. "We just forgot to turn it on yesterday. We overestimated the intelligence of our opponent apparently. We thought they'd try to spy on us or rifle through anything we sent home. Who knew they'd just wander in? Bad news, though. There are more troops outside. They appear to be prepared to storm the place. Also some of them are roaming around, trying to poke their noses into everything. Like we don't lock our doors."
"Obviously we don't. We left the front door wide open," Seth replied. "When we get them out of here, the defense perimeter goes up and doesn't come down for anything."
Max grimaced. This wasn't his best morning ever. He heard Gloria telling Bill, "Oh yes, all Omerta employees live here in the complex. We are hiring some local contractors, but since this facility is also a UN sanctioned embassy, we really cannot have American citizens doing the work."
She paused. "You do realize you have violated UN protocols by coming in here, right? A host country may not enter the representing country's embassy. We have received no formal declaration of war. What did you hope to accomplish?"
The colonel leaned forward and answered her question. "Just because you Omerta people bought off the UN doesn't mean all that legal hocus-pocus is going to impress us here. You are in the Unites States of America now. If you are harboring enemy secrets, then you are terrorists. And we know what to do with terrorists here." He smiled like a cat looking into a goldfish bowl. Seth entertained uncomfortable visions of the prisons that America was so famous for.
Bob the Bureaucrat interrupted, "Now, we aren't looking to start a fight. We just want some help with this terrible war we are in right now and we think you people could provide that help."
"Look, seriously, enough with all the witty banter. What do you want?" Max interrupted, holding a pale hand to his throbbing head.
Bill gave a small smile. "We want access to the data in your computers concerning certain institutions and governments. Not that many. We know you advertise that your encryption methods are mathematically impossible to break, but Lineman here says they aren't." He nodded at one of the uniformed men in the back, a somewhat shabby little man who smirked at Seth. Seth looked up to make sure the cameras recorded this man. He wanted to find out exactly who this hateful little creep was.
The little creep cleared his throat. "The mathematics involved might be difficult and time consuming to solve, but not impossible." The man had a very nasal voice.
Seth tried to look shocked. "Oh? I really thought those codes were unbreakable. How shocking. Perhaps we could discuss this further sometime? How did you arrive at this conclusion, without knowing our encryption method or the equations involved?"
Seth knew perfectly well the codes were breakable. But he also knew that Omerta had the only system in the world capable of breaking them. He designed it that way. But there was no way this little worm would know that. The whole encryption method had multiple layers of code and several different security measures. The kernel of the system involved a method of randomly generating the encryption equations. Even if he explained the method, they'd never be able to crack the encryption since it always changed.
"Well, I'm afraid that's classified," Lineman sniffed.
"He knows
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