C Matthew Curtin <cmcurtin@research.megasoft.com> posted a reference to ALPHACIPHER, which appears to be Yet Another Snake Oil System. It's got good intentions - it uses (ahem) "one-time pads", and tries to build a convenient user interface for low-volume work. Of course, it apparently doesn't quite get it:
ALPHACIPHER uses key sets generated by a proprietary random key set generator to insure the production of unique, high-quality keys.
The key set generation is inherently part of the encryption process; since it's proprietary, it's not possible to test the quality of the random numbers, but they must be assumed to be low-quality crackable stuff unless the author is willing to reveal the algorithm and demonstrate otherwise. The program is written in DOS, and produces its output as UPPERCASE LETTERS to avoid being caught by eavesdropping scanners that might detect other patterns. Not unreasonable, I guess. The author, Wolfgang Hammersmith, also wrote The New ADFGVX, a cypher that can be done by hand (if necessary), which he does acknowledge is breakable, but comments that for short messages, there may not be enough information to break it. # Thanks; Bill # Bill Stewart, +1-415-442-2215 stewarts@ix.netcom.com # <A HREF="http://idiom.com/~wcs"> # You can get PGP software outside the US at ftp.ox.ac.uk/pub/crypto