History Main / HollywoodEncryption

** There does, however, exist an encryption method, the one-time pad, that is immune to brute force, and unbreakable if carried out correctly (doing so, however, is often logistically prohibitive). It's immune to brute force because with different keys you can get every possible message that has the same length as the one being sent, with no indication whatsoever of which possible decryption is the right one.
** Actually most modern digital encryption is resistant to brute forcing, in that it's theoretically possible to do it, but would likely take an impossibly long time, possibly billions of years, assuming you dedicate all of the worlds computing power to brute forcing that one key.

* Willow of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' fame can decrypt ''anything'', seriously, though admittedly the Initiative's most secretest files took her a few days...
** Actually, she didn't manage to decrypt them; they eventually decrypted themselves, which was a less-than-subtle clue that the season's BigBad had slipped those files to the good guys intentionally.

* In ''Literature/DigitalFortress'' the NSA has a computer which is powerful enough to brute force (i.e. keep trying different passkeys until it gets the right answer) encryption. The plot is based around a new encryption algorithm which is resistant to brute force methods. This is a clear case of [[HollywoodBruteForce research failure]], since a brute force search for a solution would try every possible key until the right one was found.

* Done in ''GhostInTheShell'', with the HandWave that the Major and the more techie members of Section 9 are just that good. However, sometimes they run across security that actually ''counterattacks'' their hacking, which might be something of an aversion (encryption that can [[MindRape scramble your brain]]? AWESOME).

* Averted thoroughly in ''{{Sneakers}}''. While the MacGuffin is entirely fictional, if something did what it could do, it would be able to slice through virtually any modern encryption.

* In ''Literature/DigitalFortress'' the NSA has a computer which is powerful enough to brute force (i.e. keep trying different passkeys until it gets the right answer) encryption. The plot is based around a new encryption algorithm which is resistant to brute force methods. This is a clear case of research failure, since a brute force search for a solution would try every possible key until the right one was found.

* Done in ''GhostInTheShell'', with the HandWave that the Major and the more techie members of Section 9 are just that good. However, sometimes they run across security that actually ''counterattacks'' their hacking, which might be something of an aversion (encryption that can [[MindRape scramble your brain]]? AWESOME).

* In ''[[DanBrown Digital Fortress]]'' the NSA has a computer which is powerful enough to brute force (i.e. keep trying different passkeys until it gets the right answer) encryption. The plot is based around a new encryption algorithm which is resistant to brute force methods. This is a clear case of research failure, since a brute force search for a solution would try every possible key until the right one was found.

* StargateAtlantis: Multiple times. Janus' lab pops up. He is meant to have his research encrypted with highly advanced encryption. It doesn't last long against the mind of TheSmartGuy.
* TheSarahConnorChronicles: Of course can John break the encryption of Sarkissian's hdd.

* Averted in VideoGame/{{Iji}}. The eponymous [[{{Nanite}} Nanotech]] cyborg can hack her way through a lot of low-security doors, but some doors are just too securely encrypted for her to ever hope to open.

* Willow of ''BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' fame can decrypt ''anything'', seriously, though admittedly the Initiative's most secretest files took her a few days...

* In ''[[DanBrown Digital Fortress]]'' the NSA has a computer which is powerful enough to brute force (i.e. keep trying different passkeys until it gets the right answer) encryption. The plot is based around a new encryption algorithm which is resistant to brute force methods. This is a clear case of DidNotDoResearch, since a brute force search for a solution would try every possible key until the right one was found.

** There does, however, exist an encryption method, the one-time pad, that is immune to brute force, and unbreakable if carried out correctly (doing so, however, is often logistically prohibitive). It's immune to brute force because with different keys you can get every possible message that has the same length as the one being sent.

* Averting it is pretty much the entire point of Neal Stephenson's ''{{Cryptonomicon}}'', where Lawrence Waterhouse shows us how the German Enigma machines worked and how Bletchley Park worked day after day cracking their codes, whereas Randy Waterhouse shows us in the first few pages how ''proper'' encryption is done, all of that while rattling scientifically accurate lectures about information theory. Need anything more? Well, Neal Stephenson asked Bruce Schneier to create a 100% functional encryption algorithm, called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solitaire_cipher Solitaire]], which can be implemented on the field with playing cards, ''and the books include a working Perl script that implements the algorithm.''

* Averted in {{Iji}}. The eponymous [[{{Nanite}} Nanotech]] cyborg can hack her way through a lot of low-security doors, but some doors are just too securely encrypted for her to ever hope to open.

** Justified to some extent by the fact that they are among the world's top elite in decryption and information manipulation, and not even they succeed every time. Also, judging from their TechnoBabble they often abuse backdoors, which they probably get informed about well before they are updated out of the systems. In RealLife the typical hacker keeps an eye on published vulnerabilities in systems that they're interested in breaking in, and then perform their attack in the short window it takes for the target to wipe it out. Being a part of the government's secret police, the Section 9 probably gets informed about them much sooner than anyone else, and they might deliberately create them in systems that might require hacking in the future, when they have the extra time.

Unfortunately for [[WritersCannotDoMath those who studied literature hoping to never meet a single number ever again]], cryptography is also one of the hardest sciences in the world, drawing from fields as abstract and esoteric as number theory, mathematical logic, information theory and data structures. Needless to say, this means research in the subject needs to be ''very'' accurate. So wen your executives are demanding that you deliver a manuscript in record time, the only thing you can do is depict it as some kind of character shifting or describing it through some kind of TechnoBabble.

Can be an [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality acceptable break from reality]], 'cause there would be no plot at all, if the encryption would be unbreakable or would take years to be broken.

Unfortunately for [[WritersCannotDoMath those who studied literature hoping to never meet a single number ever again]], cryptography is also one of the hardest sciences in the world, drawing from fields as abstract and esoteric as number theory, mathematical logic, information theory and data structures. Needless to say, this means research in the subject is ''very'' hard. And when your executives are demanding you to deliver a manuscript in record time, the only thing you can do is depict it as some kind of character shifting or describing it through some kind of TechnoBabble.

* Done in ''GhostInTheShell'', with the HandWave that the Major and the more techie members of Section 9 are ''just that good''. However, sometimes they run across security that actually ''counterattacks'' their hacking, which might be something of an aversion (encryption that can [[MindRape scramble your brain]]? AWESOME).

* Averting it is pretty much the entire point of Neal Stephenson's ''{{Cryptonomicon}}'', where Lawrence Waterhouse shows us how the German Enigma machines worked and how Bletchley Park worked day after day cracking their codes, whereas Randy Waterhouse shows us in the first few pages how ''proper'' encryption is done, all of that while rattling scientifically accurate lectures about information theory. Need anything more? Welp, Neal Stephenson asked Bruce Schneier to create a 100% functional encryption algorithm, called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solitaire_cipher Solitaire]], which can be implemented on the field with playing cards, ''and the books include a working Perl script that implements the algorithm.''

* In ''[[DanBrown Digital Fortress]]'' the NSA (secretly) has a computer which is powerful enough to brute force (i.e. keep trying different passkeys until it gets the right answer) encryption. The plot is based around a new encryption algorithm which is resistant to brute force methods.
** Which is a spectacular smack in the face of Computer Science considering that Brute Force is not a method you can beat. In Computer Science, Brute Force is the simplest way to solve a problem and will always find a solution. The trouble is, Brute Force is the slowest possible way to achieve said solution. The algorithm itself was immune to the NSA's computer's attempt to Brute Force the computer program wasn't designed to crack the new encryption software, and thus couldn't crack it. Had the NSA programmers known what the algorithm was, it would be possible to Brute Force it, though it might not have been the quickest way to solve it.
** Not a method you can beat? May I introduce you to the one-time-pad cipher, which really ''is'' totally unbreakable by any method, including brute force? If you try brute forcing a one-time-pad encryption, you end up with literally thousands to millions of interpretations, and no way to know which was the correct one (that is what the key is for). That's right, the all-powerful encryption that gets all the characters worried to the point of murder ''already exists''!
*** One time pads have drawbacks and problems as well, and they aren't invulnerable to cryptoanalysis. The volume, length, and frequency of the messages can convey information as well if you correlate it with other intelligence work. Your message can only be as long as the number of pads you have on hand and it all has to be pre-arranged. What happens when you run out of pads? All 'strong' encryption method are strong enough to force interested agents into other forms of determining the contents of the message. A 256 bit twofish encryption would be sufficient to keep your message safe from all the computing power on Earth till far beyond the end of our sun's life cycle. One time pads are ideal in that brute force is theoretically the only way to gain the contents and roughly equals in magnitude the effectiveness of a encryption key the size of the pad. A well constructed pad 32 characters long with 32 possible characters would be similar in strength to a 160 bit key in many of the strong encryption systems. If they aren't sufficiently random then other crypto techniques could be applied. For instance, if they generated pads that never had two values next to each other then it would expose that set of pads to attacks other than brute force. These days if they want the contents of a message they'll just arrest the originator and attempt to extract the key from them through force (either physical or legal) or try to use some sort of side channel attack or some sort of covert channel.
**** [[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle The practice of beating the key out of someone in the know]] is called [[UnusualEuphemism Rubber Hose Cryptography]].

Unfortunately for [[WritersCannotDoMath those who studied literature hoping to never meet a single number ever again]], cryptography is also one of the hardest sciences in the world, drawing from fields as abstract and esoteric as number theory, mathematical logic, information theory and data structures. Needless to say, this means research in the subject is ''very'' hard. And when your executives are demanding you to deliver a manuscript in record time, the only thing you can do is depicting it as some kind of character shifting or describing it through some kind of TechnoBabble.

*** One time pads have draw backs and problems as well and they aren't invulnerable to crypto analysis. the volume, length, and frequency of the messages can convey information As well and you can glean some information with that and if you correlate it with other intelligence work. Pads also have draw backs for instance your message can only be as long as the number of pads you have on hand and it all has to be pre-arranged. What happens when you run out of pads? all 'strong' encryption method are strong enough to force interested agents into other forms of getting the contents of the message out. A 256 bit twofish encryption would be sufficient to keep your message safe from all the computing power on earth till far beyond the end of our suns life cycle. One time pads are ideal in that brute force is theoretically the only way to gain the contents and roughly equals in magnitude the effectiveness of a encryption key the size of the pad. a well constructed pad 32 characters long with 32 possible characters would be similar in strength to a 160 bit key in many of the strong encryption systems. If they aren't sufficiently random then other crypto techniques could be applied. For instance if they generated pads that never had two values next to each other then it would expose that set of pads to attacks other than brute force. These days if they want the contents of a message they'll just arrest the originator and attempt to extract the key from them through force (either physical or legal) or try to use some sort of side channel attack or some sort of covert channel.

** Not a method you can beat? May I introduce you to the one-time-pad cipher, which really ''is'' totally unbreakable by any method, including brute force? If you try brute forcing a one-time-pad encryption, you end up with literally thousands to millions of interpretations, and no way to know which was the correct one (that is what the key is for). That's right, the all-powerful encryption that gets all the characters worried to the point of murder ''already exists''!

** Not a method you can beat? May I introduce you to the one-time-pad cipher, which really ''is'' totally unbreakable by any method, including brute force? If you try brute forcing a one-time-pad encryption, you end up with literally thousands to millions of interpretations, and no way to know which was the correct one (that is what the key is for). That's right, the all-powerful encryption that gets all the characters worried to the point of murder ''already exists''!

** Not a method you can beat? May I introduce you to the one-time-pad cipher, which really ''is'' totally unbreakable by any method, including brute force? If you try brute forcing a one-time-pad encryption, you end up with literally thousands to millions of interpretations, and no way to know which was the correct one (that is what the key is for). That's right, the all-powerful encryption that gets all the characters worried to the point of murder ''already exists''!

** Not a method you can crack? May I introduce you to the one-time-pad cipher, which really ''is'' totally unbreakable by any method, including brute force? If you try brute forcing a one-time-pad encryption, you end up with literally thousands to millions of interpretations, and no way to know which was the correct one (that is what the key is for). That's right, the all-powerful encryption that gets all the characters worried to the point of murder ''already exists''!

** Not a method you can crack? May I introduce you to the one-time-pad cipher, which really ''is'' totally unbreakable by any method, including brute force? If you try brute forcing a one-time-pad encryption, you end up with literally thousands to millions of interpretations, and no way to know which was the correct one (that is what the key is for). That's right, the all-powerful encryption that gets all the characters worried to the point of murder ''already exists''!

** Which is a spectacular smack in the face of Computer Science considering that Brute Force is not a method you can beat. In Computer Science, Brute Force is the simplest way to solve a problem and will always find a solution. The trouble is, Brute Force is the slowest possible way to achieve said solution. The algorithm itself was immune to the NSA's computer's attempt to Brute Force the computer program wasn't designed to crack the new encryption software, and thus couldn't crack it. Had the NSA programmers known what the algorithm was, it would be possible to Brute Force it, though it might not have been the quickest way to sovle it.

Modern cryptography is probably one of the most interesting sciences in the world. The sheer appeal of being able to tell or keep information with noone being able to eavesdrop has unimaginable social implications. It can be what protects the citizens against TheMan, it can be the difference between losing a war or winning it, the difference between making millions of dollars off a new invention or letting the competition find out, overtake you and win all the money you could have made, it can be what keeps your PornStash safe from Mom's prying eyes, it's the only barrier that separates data crackers and your bank account's details, and it can be the base of communication within an AncientConspiracy or a shadowy criminal organization.

* Done in ''GhostInTheShell'', with the HandWave that the Major and the more techie members of Section 9 are ''just that good''. However, sometimes they run across security that actually ''counterattacks'' their hacking, which might be something of an aversion (encryption that can [[MindRape scramble your brain]]? AWESOME).