# secret codes and spyspeak



## Stormcat (Dec 9, 2015)

I've got a spy organization in my story, I have a rough draft of who they are, what they do, but not the "cool" parts of being a spy like the gadgets and spyspeak. I think I'm good on gadgets, this being a steampunk-y universe, gadgets abound. But I need some help with:

-Codebreaking
-Code-making
-A secret language spies use to communicate with each other

I've barely mastered the English language, how am I supposed to make up a new one!?!


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## PhunkyMunky (Dec 9, 2015)

Buddy, you're talking a very difficult part of what spies do. 

I suggest finding something from a movie or TV show and emulating it. The issue is of something that is constantly evolving. If you stay on a system for too long, it will become compromised and therefore useless. 

The use of Dead Drops (which are ALWAYS monitored by both parties), coding, and maybe things like a Challenge and Password are all ways two spies that might not know each other could communicate and verify that this is their contact. 

We'll say that a letter is written and put into a dead drop. This letter was written using the book method (which I will link an example). The other party picks up the letter and takes it home, then deciphers it using the exact same book that the first party used to write the letter. Let's say the letter pertains to a specific time and place to meet. 

Upon meeting the challenge is, we'll say Pork Chops. The Password might then be... Applesauce. So guy meets girl, he says "You know, love. I was thinking of dinner, does pork chops sound alright?" To which she might say "Only if there's applesauce to go with it." If either of these two don't match, the deal is off and you've been had. 

Beyond that, when they're together, chances are plain language is what they will use. While I leave you a link of how basic book cyphering works.. Which is nearly impossible to break BTW. You have to have the exact same book to do it, the same edition and all that and if you don't, you won't break that code because it could be any book on earth and how many books do we have? Far too many to count. I think the easiest way to portray this is to simply state that they cyphered using the book cypher method and just tell your audience in plain language what was said, rather than going into the whole coding thing. 

I don't know a whole lot about spies, but I do know that the things they do are very involved and very EVOLVED. It's always changing, in real life because someone's always trying to break codes. 

http://www.topspysecrets.com/book-cipher.html


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## Stormcat (Dec 11, 2015)

PhunkyMunky said:


> Buddy, you're talking a very difficult part of what spies do.
> 
> I suggest finding something from a movie or TV show and emulating it. The issue is of something that is constantly evolving. If you stay on a system for too long, it will become compromised and therefore useless.
> 
> ...



I know about book cyphers, but unfortunately, this world is similar to "Fahrenheit 451" where books are regularly burned. Few members of this group would even be literate, as schooling has been restricted to all but the upper crust. This organization runs some secret schools to teach people of all ages how to read and write, but about 65% of the organization itself is illiterate.

That being said, they can still recognize symbols. Could a book cypher still work even if most people don't know what it means?


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## Joe_Bassett (Dec 11, 2015)

There's a good book I read about ciphers and codes called 'The Code Book' by Simon Singh. I also invented a math based code.  If you're interested I can PM you how to code and decode for it.


Also the illiteracy problem would make it very difficult to send any messages of detailed information.


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## PhunkyMunky (Dec 11, 2015)

Number cyphers and symbol cyphers would work. The only problem with symbols is that they can be easily figured out. But book cyphering requires the ability to read, so you're right... It wouldn't work. 

Unless you could maybe devise a system that changes a symbol's meaning periodically. Maybe something like the "alien alphabet" sort of thing that some people claim to have witnessed, or something as simple as stick figures doing something. The meaning could be anything you wish and in a week that specific symbol changes meaning to something else. Maybe not each week, but you get the gist. You may not be able to convey very complex messages with this but basic meet times and things like that could be done simple enough.


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## Stormcat (Dec 11, 2015)

I suppose I could leave the messaging and coding up to more higher-up agents, but I could still use some symbols that the common man in the know would recognize.


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## PhunkyMunky (Dec 11, 2015)

Don't forget... Illiterate doesn't mean retarded. An illiterate common man can figure out, and learn, quite a bit. So even if your system is a bit complex, people can still learn it and use it effectively.


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## Riis Marshall (Dec 12, 2015)

Hello Stormy

For a totally 'unbreakable code' you can create a completely new language only the spies themselves have learned - this is similar to the principle behind the Navajo codetalkers in the Pacific in WWII (you, of course, don't have to create the entire language; you just refer to it as needed to tell your story).

There are a couple of problems with this. First, each person who wants to use it must be fully trained. Second, any books must be kept out of the hands of the enemy. Third, any user of this language could be forced to reveal it to an enemy under torture (this might be something you could build into your story).

An artificial language such as this might fit in nicely with a _Fahrenheit 451_-type future.

All the best with your writing.

Warmest regards
Riis


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## JustRob (Dec 12, 2015)

There are degrees of secrecy that you need to consider when devising your approach. There is a difference between a situation, where a secret is contained within a message but that fact itself is evident, and a situation where the fact that a message contains a secret is itself a secret. Spy stories can as much entail the search for _wherein_ the secrets are being communicated as how they are structured. Even if the opposition guess the wherein that doesn't mean that they can necessarily confirm that they are right. _

Encryption_ prevents the details of a secret being discovered but doesn't necessarily conceal the existence of the secret, so the opposition could disrupt activities by preventing a secret from being communicated without even attempting to decrypt it. In contrast to that _steganography _conceals a secret within an apparently innocent communication, so it is that much more difficult to prevent its communication. Some covert communication techniques such as _wheat and chaff _don't even bother with encryption but embed the secret information, the wheat, within a substantial quantity of other information, the chaff. For example, a list of active members of the organisation might be embedded within a larger list of other people in such a way that only a person who knew the procedure for separating the wheat from the chaff could work out who on the list were members. It would not be immediately obvious that the list actually served two purposes, the overt one and the covert. I use a wheat and chaff technique in a later part of the story that I am writing, but there is a science fiction twist to it which makes it more unusual.

Blatant encryption of messages would be a way of attracting unwanted attention. Part of the skill in devising ways of packaging secrets is the incorporation of plausible deniability, that is a cover story which claims that the package does not contain any secrets. Hence covert communication may be achieved by apparently innocent means, such as conversations about friends and relatives, where the statements actually have hidden meanings. This type of technique was used in BBC broadcasts during WWII.

So, apart from anything else, bear in mind whether what you are after is encryption or steganography.

I am reminded of the joke about the secret agent who enters a small village in Wales, Dylan Thomas country, one morning. He meets a man and the following conversation occurs.

"Mister Evans, is it?"

"Yes, I am."

"Ah, I watched the moon rise over the misty mountain last night."

"No, I'm Evans the milk. You'll be wanting Evans the spy."

There are no secrets in small villages.


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## aj47 (Dec 13, 2015)

Codes and cyphers are different beasts.  A language that no one else speaks would be the best....the Navajo talkers were never compromised.


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