From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 01:54:38 +0800
To: cypherpunks@algebra.com
Subject: Crypto, C4 Explosives, and Destroying the Infrastructure
Message-ID: <v03007801afa4f88363e2@[207.167.93.63]>
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I'm engrossed in a good terrorist thriller (*), Joseph Finder's "The Zero
Hour," just out in paperback. It's a detailed account of sabotaging the
U.S./statist infrastructure by a determined billionaire intent on getting
revenge for the murder of his wife and daughter by U.S. agents. He hires an
expert terrorist to take out the U.S. banking industry...what a rush!

(* The conventional "spy thriller" has been largely supplanted by the
"terrorist thriller," given the replacement of the Evil Empire by the Four
Horsemen. Even the Chief Anti-Cryptography, David Aaron, has written a
couple of them. I read the first one, many years ago, and it was pretty
good.)

The detail in Finder's book is quite good. Lengthy discussion of NSA, RC4,
Crypto AG and the NSA tamperings with their products, banking, etc. Even
Hacktic plays a role. Finder is, when not a novelist, a reporter for
leading papers (NYT and WP) on CIA and intelligence matters, so he knows a
lot.

What's really interesting is just how accurate and insightful _most_ of his
crypto stuff is...he really shows evidence of knowing how RC4 works, how
cryppies at NSA do their cryptanalysis, and how Inmarsat portable satellite
phones work.

However, there are a couple of *obvious* errors. My supposition is that he
"pulled his punches" a little, choosing to gloss over certain things which
would have made the "terrorist" essentially impossible to detect. (The most
glaring error, which he surely knew better about, was to assert that NSA
could break any cipher if given enough time and computer power.)

I surmise from how he altered factual details about the world of
cryptography--though masterfully--that he also subtly tweaked some details
in other areas. I, for example, don't plan to use the cyclotrimethylene
trinitramine version of C4, allegedly free of the usual odor-producing
impurities, for any of my sanitization efforts! (He also describes some of
the flaws in the bombs used in the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City
bombings...any aspiring terrorist should certainly read this novel for some
ideas...taking into account the deliberate errors he inserted, as with the
crypto errors!)

A real explosives expert would see in his detailed descriptions of where
and how to get the M6 Special Engineer Electrical Blasting Caps and the
M-112 Charge Demolition Blocks the same kind of subtle tweakings of the
truth that he put into his convincing descriptions of cryptanalysis.

But it's still an excellent novel. I, of course, am rooting for Baumann,
the terrorist.

The usual warning applies: avoid soft targets.

--Tim may

There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws.
Only one response to the key grabbers is warranted: "Death to Tyrants!"
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."