Unlimited Plan (*)

Old but efficient

23

Toronto, Canada

Jeremy's laughter fades away in the living room.

"Sorry... But you have to admit, it's kind of funny, right?"

The atmosphere has shifted significantly in the house since Sarah's intervention regarding the hypothetical "secret member" of RoTP. Kyle Kinkaid has just received updates from his team dispatched in Moscow. On the small coffee table, he has placed his laptop, an ultra-light model from the latest generation. Displayed on the screen is the initial report on the contents of the USB drive extracted from Kagda's body. A revealing but not particularly insightful outcome, which triggered Jeremy's laughter.

"Baltac... Our analysts have been on it for barely an hour, give them some time to..."

"An hour? Not so long ago, you were implying that Phoenix could have recruited any basement-dwelling geek's services instead of complicating matters by seeking out former RoTP members."

The major shows a weary grimace as Jeremy continues: "Apparently, as 'obsolete' as our methods from back then may be, it seems KryptBoy's work is still capable of stumping all your experts..."

"Okay, Baltac, I got it. Evidently, your little team has managed to keep up with technology. The file that was on the drive has been sent to my men. Obviously, it's encrypted. The problem is, upon inspecting the document, they don't recognize any of the known encryption protocols."

"Without a single clue, even a brute force attack could take years before deciphering anything," adds Jay.

"This time you're underestimating us, Baltac. We have access to computational power far beyond what you can imagine."

"Oh! Alright, not years then... Months?"

As the Cajun doesn't respond, Jeremy takes his silence for agreement.

"I don't understand," Sarah interjects. "A few weeks ago, the newspaper did a report on secure data exchanges and encryption. I remember the researcher telling me about 'keys' or something like that, necessary to access an encrypted file. If we only have a file, then where are these keys?"

Jeremy smiles. "You're exactly right. It's a bit like bank vaults that require two keys to open. The bank holds one key, the client holds the second; both are needed simultaneously to proceed. In the case of computer encryption, these keys are called the public key and the private key, respectively. The role of the bank is played by the decryption software, which holds the public keys, chosen according to the protocol used. The private key, on the other hand, can be a simple password, or a certificate to be installed on one's machine. But without these two keys, you can't open the file..."

The major has also followed this brief explanation.

"When my men say they can't identify the encryption protocol used, what does that actually mean?"

"Basically ... that they don't recognize which bank the vault belongs to. So, no idea about the public key employed..."

"In other words, we're missing both keys to access Kagda's information?"

"From what you're telling me, yes," confirms Jeremy.

"He ingested the device containing this file. Clearly, he intended to use this data, probably to harm Phoenix, to counteract the work he had been forced to do for him. Is it possible that he hid these famous keys elsewhere?"

Jeremy thinks for a moment before answering.

"In theory, he had no way to communicate with the outside world, or he would have sent this file somewhere on the Internet. His best choice, then, would have been to memorize two somewhat complex passwords."