star trek data lock code

orbitalflower

Data's password.

Posted in TV on 2015-05-22

There’s an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Data impersonates Captain Picard’s voice to gain command control, then locks command functions behind a very long numeric code . In practice, how strong is this as a password, and could Picard break it with a brute force attack?

The code Data gives is 52 characters long, and consists mainly of digits but with three letters given in the phonetic alphabet:

173467321476c32789777643t732v73117888732476789764376

The code as appears on the screen is slightly different, consisting of 51 characters, missing the 7th character ‘3’, 23rd character ‘4’, and adding another ‘1’ before the 35th character that begins ‘888’:

17346721476c3278977763t732v731171888732476789764376

It’s a fair guess that in reality, this password was generated by going around clockwise on a computer keyboard’s numpad. This would explain why there are no fives or zeroes. This creates a repeating pattern that makes it more predictable and less random, and is a great example of how human-generated passwords are weaker than true random.

If it were truly random, a 52 digital numbers-only passcode would have around 2 172.74 possibilities, or the slightly lower 2 169.42 for a 51-digit code. By today’s standards this is excellent: 128-bit or higher passwords are impractical to break, requiring a billion trillion trillion guesses per second to guarantee a break within a week (current best technology in 2015 is around a trillion per second).

Considering the lack of fives and zeroes, the 52-character password really only has 2 156 possibilities, but Data has made the clever addition of adding three letters into the password. Thus any attempt to brute force pure digits would fail. If an attacker does not know about the missing fives and zeroes and assumes letters are considered equally likely as digits, the number of possibilities they must test is about 2 267.84 - described by cryptographer Bruce Schneier as “infeasible until computers are built from something other than matter and occupy something other than space”. 1

The Enterprise’s main computer is probably comparable in power to that of the USS Voyager, which is cited as capable of 575 trillion calculations per nanosecond 2 . Even assuming one calculation equals one cracked password, such a computer could at best crack 2 103.84 passwords per year, taking a trillion such starships to break 2 143.70 .

Conclusion: Data’s 52-digit code is secure.

If you picked a 52 digit password today, it will be very strong. However, the exact password 173467321476c32789777643t732v73117888732476789764376 is extremely weak, since it has appeared in a popular science fiction television series.

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2009/09/the_doghouse_cr.html   ↩

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Computer   ↩

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Published Apr 11, 2013

One Trek Mind: Ten Most Secure Alphanumeric Passwords Derived from Star Trek

I remember a time when the only people who had personal computers were hardcore Star Trek fans. (Or Dungeons and Dragons fans, or Monty Python fans, or people who listened to Yes’ “Close to the Edge” on repeat.) Nowadays, owning a modem doesn't make you special anymore, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't let your motherboard be your mothership and let your geek flag fly. Among the peskier things about personal computing is the never-ending call to create passwords. One for email, one for Facebook, one to download Dayton Ward's newest e-book from Amazon. To that end, we'd like to recommend 10 Star Trek -based passwords, some of which you'd need the M5 Computer itself to break. NCC-1701 Surely the most basic of passwords. (Indeed, I think the last time I used this one I was programming in BASIC!) NCC-1701 is, of course, the registry number of the Constitution Class USS Enterprise. “No bloody A, B, C or D” as Scotty once put it. NCC is not an official abbreviation for anything in Star Trek lore, but how the prefix was chosen is an interesting story. TOS production designer Matt Jefferies, in the spirit of Roddenberry optimism, took the “NC” prefix of American civil aircraft and combined it with the “CCCC” of the Soviet Union.

Even non- Star Trek fans know “NCC-1701,” don't they? (My word, could you imagine going through life without knowing “NCC-1701?” Let's just give non-fans the benefit of the doubt and say they know it.) With this in mind, let's jump ahead a few years – and a few successful series – and use the registry of Voyager as a solid ship-based password.

11001001 TNG 's first season introduced the Bynars, the somewhat pesky Boolean-based li'l aliens who like to make dangerous computer upgrades. 11001001 was the name of a file they stored within the Enterprise's computer to aid them in transferring massive amounts of data. It was also the name of the episode and, if someone isn't a Trek fan, it makes a pretty good password out of only two numbers.

SC937-0176CEC In the episode “ Court Martial ,” Captain James T. Kirk reads into the record his long string of commendations. They include the Palm Leaf of Axanar Peace Mission, Grankite Order of Tactics, Class of Excellence, Prantares Ribbon of Commendation. (These fantastical names no doubt spawning an unending sea of fan art.) In addition to these accolades, we learn his serial number as well.

S179-276SP Earlier in the very same episode, we learn some great details about Mr. Spock. In addition to his serial number (not quite as long, so perhaps not as secure) Spock is a little more vague about his laurels, merely mentioning that he's been “twice decorated” by Starfleet command. Vulcans don't feel the need to brag.

6565827D If you ever get caught red handed gathering photons from a nuclear wessel, this code is all you have to give the interrogating officer. When Pavel Chekov wasn't able to beam away from the USS Enterprise in time (no, not THAT Enterprise, a different Enterprise) he figured honesty was the best policy. He gave his name rank and service number – baffling everyone with talk of the United Federation of Planets. A tumble over the side of the ship to the hard ground almost cost Chekov his life, but luckily Dr. McCoy was able to infiltrate the 20th century hospital and the “medievalism” within.

11A11A2B1B2B3000Destruct0 What we have here is the four-part spoken codes for the auto-destruct sequence of the Enterprise. As first divulged in TOS 's season three episode “ Let That Be Your Last Battlefield ,” the first part is given by the Captain, the second section from the second in command, and the third part by third in command. Then, the last bit is given by the Captain to kick off the 30-second countdown.On the show it was Kirk, Spock and Scotty (used to show Bele of Cheron who was boss), but in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock it was Kirk, Scotty and Chekov. (Also, the countdown was bumped from 30 to 60 seconds.) We're not going to tell you just where the different segments of the sequence begin and end – that many secrets we're not willing to divulge!

Qql3Qkl1 When Kirk and Spock beamed down to the mental asylum on Elba II they were wise to create a secret code to communicate back with the Enterprise. It was almost as if they knew that Garth of Izar (that's Lord Garth!) would be there and that he would have mastered the Antosian art of cellular manipulation. (They didn't know that, but whatever - “ Whom Gods Destroy ” is still a great episode.)Scotty's first part of the code is “Queen to Queen's Level Three,” a move in Tri-D chess. The proper response is “Queen to King's Level One.” I'll be honest, I barely know how to play regular chess, let alone the type of chess that could possibly engage the mind of a Vulcan. After studying some of actual Tri-D chess sites online and looking at their algebraic notations, I think what I have here is the correct way of spelling out the back and forth of this code.

173467321476C32789777643T732V73117888732476789764376Lock You can't keep a Vulcan from the koon-ut-kal-if-fee during pon farr, and you can't keep a Soong-type android away from the call of its creator. The episode “ Brothers ” shows Data shanghai-ing the ship and using Picard's voice to lock-out others from the computer. The above code, the most hardcore of alphanumeric codes in the history of television, would take 8.467×1080 combinations to break. This one should therefore be reserved for only the most important security measures – like where you hide your Kes/M'Ress fan fiction.

CX-937- Nog was the first Ferengi in Starfleet, so this means he was the first Ferengi to memorize a number that didn't have to do with securing latinum or maximizing profit. In the episode “ Rocks and Shoals ,” he begins blurting out his serial number but, by the time he gets to the second dash, he's told to shut up by none other than Elim Garak! As such, we never hear the end of his code. Therefore, it is up to YOU to finish it, hence making it the most unbreakable password ever, in that the level of uncertainty renders it virtually unknowable! A veritable boundless myriad of permutations!

Whew! All these numbers and letters have left me exhausted. Tell me, have YOU ever used a Star Trek alphanumeric for a password? If so – let us know in the comments. Only don't get too specific! (Also, eternal gratitude to Lt. Commander Neil Pedley for suggesting this week's column – and doing the bulk of the research, too!)

__________________________________________________________________________

Jordan Hoffman is a writer, critic and lapsed filmmaker living in New York City. His work can also be seen on Film.com , ScreenCrush and Badass Digest . On his BLOG , Jordan has reviewed all 727 Trek episodes and films, most of the comics and some of the novels.

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Authorization code

The command authorization code (also known as authorization code, voice authorization code, command code, defense access code, or access code) is an alphanumeric sequence used by militaries to allow access to certain command protocols and restricted information.

Some of the many uses of authorization codes including: activating and canceling auto destruct sequences , transferring of command of a starship , accessing secured locations, and ejecting a warp core .

In Star Fleet , the style of code varies from decade to decade. In 2365, the code was a long sequence of numbers, letters from the human Greek and English alphabet pronounced phonetically and colors. By the following year, the code standardized to a form used from that point on. Typically, this would involve the user's name, Greek letters, and numbers. Codes are changed on a regular basis, to prevent sabotage and security breaches.

• Kappa-Alpha-4-6-0-1-7-0-4
• Picard-4-7-Alpha-Tango
• Sisko-Omega-1-7-Abort
• Janeway-1-1-5-3-Red, Clearance level: 10

Cardassian authorization codes are somewhat customizable in that high-ranking officers can add additional security checks to restrict use of their security clearances.

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Folders and files, repository files navigation, star trek timelines data core, system overview.

The assets (parsing, hosting) is set up on a separate machine to allow for more aggressive CDN / caching configuration, but the functionality could be combined with the main VM.

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A Linux VM with 2 CPUs and 4Gb of dedicated RAM should suffice for the current levels of traffic. Total space used (by assets, the static website, uploaded profiles and the DB) is under 2Gb (SSD preferred). Average traffic is 1200 unique users / day (13000 unique users / month) with 630Gb CDN cached bandwidth (+210Gb non-cached).

the website

Written in TypeScript with React.js and built with Gatsby, combines source code with big book notes (as markdown) and other data (as json) to create a static website which needs to be uploaded to the server's file system (CI loop recommended for build validation and deployments).

This VM runs a cronjob every 10 minutes that scans, downloads and unpacks new assets (crew images) to the local file system. There's also an nginx HTTP server that publishes the assets. Code is hosted here .

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Fractal encryption code

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The Enterprise -E computer is encrypted

A fractal encryption code was a method by which the main computer of a Federation starship could be isolated, blocking an intruding force from taking control of all ship functions.

Having traveled to the year 2063 from the year 2373 , Lieutenant Commander Data of the USS Enterprise -E entered a fractal encryption code into the ship's computer to prevent takeover by a contingent of Borg drones . Stored in the android 's neural net , the codes could neither be forceably removed nor assimilated by the Borg . Nevertheless, continuing their attempt to gain control of the Enterprise computer, the Borg Queen used unconventional means of persuasion to extract the codes. ( Star Trek: First Contact )

• 2 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)
• 3 Star Trek: The Next Generation