Al Qaeda Crypto

[John Young]

The Wall Street Journal today reports today on alleged
Al Qaeda computer files bought from a seller in Kabul 
which were encoded and encrypted.

A key encrypted document reports on a tour assessing
terrorist targets in Egypt and Israel, very similar to the 
alleged travels of Richard C. Reid.

The type of encryption is not identified, nor who provided
help cracking the encryption with "an array of high-speed
computers programmed to crack passwords."

Excerpts:

The computer contents included:

-- A primer on coding and encryption of documents.

Many of the text documents are not only protected by
passwords but also couched in elliptical, coded
language.

The computer report on the travels of the Al Qaeda scout,
protected by a complex password, was created on
August 19 according to the computer's internal record.
The Wall Street Journal commissioned an array of
of high-speed computers programmed to crack
passwords. They took five days to access the file.

End excerpts.