3 ms·

Perhaps it relies on using obscure information that the messenger already knows, but not telling the messenger which random fact will be the significant one. F

Perhaps it relies on using obscure information that the messenger already knows, but not telling the messenger which random fact will be the significant one. For example, you could authenticate my brother by asking him to complete this song title: "Fleshy _______". Yet without knowing what question he was to answer, he could never retrieve the password. I suppose it's not exactly true that he couldn't remember it-- it's in his memory, but he doesn't know where to look. Actually, the idea is basically asking someone to dereference a pointer to their childhood. Most people will segfault.

dcosson 15y ago
So essentially we're relying on a one-way hash function, which is what I am thinking too. (In Quantum Information Theory, the question whether or not there exists true one-way hash functions is still unanswered, but for the time being, current cryptographic functions are obviously working well enough). I feel like this wouldn't work with humans though. For instance, if I was torturing you and knew that your brother was the other agent, I might think to ask you for any inside jokes between you and your brother. There's a chance you wouldn't think of the right one (i.e. segfault analogy), but also a chance that you might, so you haven't really "forgotten" the answer. On top of that, I feel like something straight out of Harry Potter probably isn't the answer :) I like the idea (in the comments on OP's blog) of using a very unique smell. You can explain what's happening in a picture or hum a melody, but maybe a smell is more difficult to describe.
kgen 15y ago
I was thinking something similar, maybe it was a common sequence like Supercalifragi___icexpialidocious or the alphabet (with a letter missing) where when asked, the user could fill in the part of the sequence, but would later forget the exact offset for.
deleted 15y ago
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dcosson 15y ago

So essentially we're relying on a one-way hash function, which is what I am thinking too. (In Quantum Information Theory, the question whether or not there exists true one-way hash functions is still unanswered, but for the time being, current cryptographic functions are obviously working well enough). I feel like this wouldn't work with humans though. For instance, if I was torturing you and knew that your brother was the other agent, I might think to ask you for any inside jokes between you and your brother. There's a chance you wouldn't think of the right one (i.e. segfault analogy), but also a chance that you might, so you haven't really "forgotten" the answer. On top of that, I feel like something straight out of Harry Potter probably isn't the answer :) I like the idea (in the comments on OP's blog) of using a very unique smell. You can explain what's happening in a picture or hum a melody, but maybe a smell is more difficult to describe.

kgen 15y ago

I was thinking something similar, maybe it was a common sequence like Supercalifragi___icexpialidocious or the alphabet (with a letter missing) where when asked, the user could fill in the part of the sequence, but would later forget the exact offset for.

deleted 15y ago

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