What TV understands about crypto

["Rob, grandpa of Ryan, Trevor, Devon & Hannah" <rmslade () shaw ca>]

One of only two shows that we actually watch on television is "Murdoch 
Mysteries" 
( http://www.citytv.com/vancouver/show/micro/50373--murdoch-mysteries ).  Set 
in Toronto, circa 1900, it shows Detective Murdoch "inventing" much of modern 
forensics using the technology of the time.  Some of it might actually work  :-)

The latest episode, "Invention convention" 
( http://video.citytv.com/video/detail/1717368551001.000000/Invention-
Convention/ season 5 episode 9) had someone promoting "i-mail" (instant mail). 
which Gloria thought was Telex, and I figured was more akin to fax.  (For those in 
Canada, CityTV runs "Murdoch" a number of times during the week, but won't say 
which ones are the current season, and which are older.  I'm pretty sure this 
episode will be relayed at 8 pm on Saturday.  For those outside Canada, I'm not 
sure whether you can watch the episode on the Website.)  Part of the plot turned 
on someone sending encrypted messages.

The code used by the group is a form of Ceasar cipher, aided by an Alberti disk.  In 
reality, by 1700 this probably would have been considered old hat: Casanova writes 
of breaking what must have been at least a shuffled alphabet cipher.  (In the 
episode an "analytical engine" is used to try and brute force the Ceasar cipher.)  
Autocode and other forms were well established by 1900.  (De Vigenere created 
one form of autocode, rather than the cipher which bears his name, which he 
considered weak.)

In the end, the code turns out to be based on a keyboard layout, which probably 
was not completely standard by that time.  Which would, in any case, have been a 
simple substitution cipher, and easily breakable by frequency analysis (one case of 
which was said to have failed in the plot).

======================  (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rslade () vcn bc ca     slade () victoria tc ca     rslade () computercrime org
I lost interest in `blade servers' when I found they didn't throw
knives at people who weren't supposed to be in your machine room.
                                                   - Anthony de Boer
victoria.tc.ca/techrev/rms.htm http://www.infosecbc.org/links
http://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/author/p1/
http://twitter.com/rslade
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