tonyingesson.bsky.social
Assistant Professor, Intelligence Analysis. Researching/teaching bioweapons, counterintelligence, intel methods, deception, clandestine communications and Cold War tech. Also random posts about 1970s TV shows, dogs and cats, ties & suits, etc.
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Mortals joke about exiting vim, but let me tell you, after a certain point vim no longer exits you.
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I wrote my entire PhD dissertation in vim. 300+ pages of prose. My vim macros file was finely tuned over the course of years, hours spent every day in vim. I still retain dozens of commands in my muscle memory, barely even aware of them.
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That was actually the starting point for all this. I was showing the students how to do it with pen, paper and a frequency table when I got the question if AI could do this.
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I finally found a website that can break the cipher easily. There's even a Python implementation of it.
www.guballa.de/substitution...
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Yes, and I keep trying to tell people that LLMs are not the only type of AI (and that LLMs can be quite limited for certain tasks). The difficulty is in getting non-technical folks to listen.
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Tested this Cipher Decoder implementation of ChatGPT. Again, failure. Completely unreasonable answer.
chatgpt.com/g/g-Bl2seIXP...
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Thanks for the added effort and update!
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Yes, I have explained to them that any type of system or regularity equals a vulnerability to some degree. The only safe way to encode is by using a random (to a sufficient degree at least) non-repeating key (i.e. OTP).
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Hell, it shouldn't even need AI. A script that combines frequency analysis with dictionary pattern matching should be enough.
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Thanks, I'll try it! It should be pretty straightforward to train an AI to do this, a more specialized application than ChatGPT should work fine.
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My son (a more experienced ChatGPT user) also tried it. His approach is to do it as more of a step-by-step process, with more specific instructions.
Hilarity ensued!
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Using it logged in simply ends with a message saying I have to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus...
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Note: this was done without being logged in. I'll try it logged in and see if that makes any difference.
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Perhaps it was poor prompting on my behalf, but let me reiterate: anyone with very basic knowledge of frequency analysis and code breaking can break this cipher with a pen and paper (and a frequency table for the language in question). It's one of the simplest forms of encryption.
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After much explaining of how frequency analysis works (correctly), ChatGPT then proceeded to fail spectacularly. Here's the clear text, encryption, and ChatGPT's answer.
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En golden fordrar inte sällan ett visst mått av regelbunden pälsvård (de har en tät och hyfsat lång päls). I det här fallet kanske det inte riktigt varit tillräckligt av den varan? En hund med lite smutsig päls kan jag hålla med om luktar inte helt gemytligt.
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Dofter är ju i regel subjektiva. För mig är doften av hund barndom och värme, precis som nysågat virke eller lukten från en varm motorsåg.
Jag tar hellre det än stanken människor lämnar efter sig i trånga utrymmen (div. nöjeslokaler efter rökförbudet minns jag som motbjudande).
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Thanks, very nice of you to say so! I've admired your collection for some time now, very impressive. By the way, today I taught the students how to encrypt and decrypt using a one-time pad (they did an exercise with pen, paper and small sheets with a random key printed on them).
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It is also good to point out (as the assigned reading does well), especially in this day and age, that many of these courageous wireless operators who parachuted into France to risk their lives operating clandestinely in a highly technical position were women.
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The point of all this? To show the students that the tech used for clandestine ops both enables and constrains the people using it. And to talk of the bravery of the people who lugged heavy and bulky radios and very long antennas around in occupied territories, where capture meant torture and death.
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At the end of the lecture everyone got a chance to play a little bit with an actual Morse key (my old J-38 straight key) and tap out an SOS (speakers to enjoy the beeps), tinker with a few different shortwave radios, check out the length of a shortwave antenna, etc.
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Jag har hyfsat många plagg jag köpt på Tradera eller second hand. Det är inga svårigheter att få ihop en kombination med udda byxor och kavaj för kanske 1500 spänn om man har lite tålamod (om det är pengar som är problemet). Jag assisterar gärna om någon behöver hjälp.
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He also has his own VCR, numerous tape players (portable as well as hifi decks with amps and decent speakers) and a reasonably sizable collection of tapes.
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Ja, precis. Jag tar det när jag gör mig i ordning, sen fortsätter jag klä mig, osv. Dröjer ju i regel cirka 45-60 min innan jag är ute bland folk.
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Haha, herre min skapare vilken dosering! Jag har också en EdP (om än annat märke). Använder tyvärr den sällan, men när jag gör det så är det två sprayningar på halsen (en på vardera sida) och möjligen en sprayning på insidan av ena handleden (gnuggar sedan handlederna mot varandra lätt).
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Samt de som tränat en del spår/sök med hund. (Jag har börjat tänka väldigt mycket mer på vindriktning efter det, särskilt när jag är ute med hunden, även om vi bara är på promenad).
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The students stayed more than 1½ hours after their shift had ended. Note that this exercise isn't graded, their efforts won't affect their final grade. They did all that extra work just to improve the final product.
It is truly a privilege to work with young people of this caliber.
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Their main task this week (deadline tomorrow) is an assessment of the situation with regards to India-Pakistan. I've tasked them with providing background, developing scenarios, identifying indicators and tracking the situation on the ground, in the air and at sea as well as the cyber dimension.
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We've gotten a lot of good use out of @deck.blue this week, currently showing for example @akihheikkinen.bsky.social et al. on the projector (shared situational awareness is important) in a feed that refreshes automatically, to keep track of news on the Kilo subs in the eastern Baltic.
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Good idea! If I had more time for preparations, I could've done the Random Serious Event that forces everyone to drop what they're doing to locate The Binder We've Never Looked At to find the SOP Checklist We Didn't Know Existed.
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I even made a pot of night-shift strength black coffee for them to add to the immersion. The kind of stuff that'll dissolve a spoon.
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No, but (spoiler alert) next week I'll show them how to detect and intercept these very same radios...
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Radios to facilitate requests for assistance when the teacher in charge is elsewhere in the building.
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Exactly. Very short shifts, but it does make them aware of the challenges of handing over tasks to other people in a clear and effective way.
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The final team of the day has relieved the previous one, they are currently working frantically on finishing up the brief and report for the daily task.
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Oh yes, loved that one as well! Subliminal cuts is one of these fascinating tech fears that was still around when I was a kid but seems more or less forgotten today.
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Perfect clue, that did it in an instant. How could I have forgotten?
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I recognize that guy so much but I can't place him!
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Yes! I loved that one! So much excellent vintage tech stuff to geek out over.
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I'm not gonna lie, if someone offered me one of those linen safari shirt + matching trousers outfits Shatner wears in this episode, I wouldn't say no.
Also, I noticed a continuity error in this episode (my wife likes to relax to this stuff, I can't help almost taking notes).