3 ms·

A "high-bypass" design, where a large fan is driven by a relatively small jet engine. Still pretty simple mechanically, though.

na85 8y ago
Simple concept, yes. But to say that it's simple to make a turbofan engine would be like saying it's simple to make your own crypto. After all, it's just multiplying some prime numbers together.
- southern_cross 8y ago
  Actually crypto _is_ pretty simple; all you really need is an XOR function. It's in things like key management and such where it gets complicated. BTW, if I ever _really_ wanted to hide something, I would in fact roll my own crypto, using techniques that no sane crypto expert would probably even consider. Then I would wrap that in at least one layer of "official" crypto, knowing full well that this layer was possibly fundamentally flawed (even crypto experts often don't get things right), or that it might even contain a backdoor.
  - ericpauley 8y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil_(cryptography) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil_(cryptography) Specifically that your post is essentially security through obscurity. If your implementation is found then the fact that you use some bogus scheme will not help you.
    - southern_cross 8y ago
      The "snake oil" here is that security by obscurity isn't a real thing. But it is, because otherwise the concepts of camouflage and out-of-sight, out-of-mind and secrecy in general simply wouldn't work. Only they do to a great extent! One of the funniest things that I've read involved professional cryptologists examining files where steganography had supposedly been used. At the end of it all they confidently declared that there was simply nothing to be found there - no hidden, encrypted information. And I thought to myself "So you're saying that steganography really works, then!" :) Like I said, I would choose non-standard techniques that no sane, trained cryptologist would probably even consider. (Ideally they would never even realize that there was anything there to potentially decrypt.) And then, in order to play it safe (and because I'm not an idiot), I would wrap my payload in an officially sanctioned encryption technique, maybe even more than one. Perhaps you missed those parts? BTW, I would never "pitch" my system to anyone else, because then I would expose its existence. Nobody but me ever needs to know that it exists, much less that there is anything valuable being hidden by it.

na85 8y ago

Simple concept, yes. But to say that it's simple to make a turbofan engine would be like saying it's simple to make your own crypto. After all, it's just multiplying some prime numbers together.

southern_cross 8y ago
Actually crypto _is_ pretty simple; all you really need is an XOR function. It's in things like key management and such where it gets complicated. BTW, if I ever _really_ wanted to hide something, I would in fact roll my own crypto, using techniques that no sane crypto expert would probably even consider. Then I would wrap that in at least one layer of "official" crypto, knowing full well that this layer was possibly fundamentally flawed (even crypto experts often don't get things right), or that it might even contain a backdoor.
- ericpauley 8y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil_(cryptography) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snake_oil_(cryptography) Specifically that your post is essentially security through obscurity. If your implementation is found then the fact that you use some bogus scheme will not help you.
  - southern_cross 8y ago
    The "snake oil" here is that security by obscurity isn't a real thing. But it is, because otherwise the concepts of camouflage and out-of-sight, out-of-mind and secrecy in general simply wouldn't work. Only they do to a great extent! One of the funniest things that I've read involved professional cryptologists examining files where steganography had supposedly been used. At the end of it all they confidently declared that there was simply nothing to be found there - no hidden, encrypted information. And I thought to myself "So you're saying that steganography really works, then!" :) Like I said, I would choose non-standard techniques that no sane, trained cryptologist would probably even consider. (Ideally they would never even realize that there was anything there to potentially decrypt.) And then, in order to play it safe (and because I'm not an idiot), I would wrap my payload in an officially sanctioned encryption technique, maybe even more than one. Perhaps you missed those parts? BTW, I would never "pitch" my system to anyone else, because then I would expose its existence. Nobody but me ever needs to know that it exists, much less that there is anything valuable being hidden by it.