wtfe²日本語

xkcd #538

Security

by Randall MunroePublished: License: CC BY-NC 2.5

Comic: Security (xkcd #538). Transcript below.

Security © Randall Munroe · xkcd · CC BY-NC 2.5

Hover textActual actual reality: nobody cares about his secrets. (Also, I would be hard-pressed to find that wrench for $5.)

Why it lands

Security people call the second panel rubber-hose cryptanalysis: getting a secret out of a person instead of breaking the cipher. The point is about threat models. Attackers go around the strongest part of a system, so the strength of the weakest one is the strength of the whole.

Transcript

  1. A CRYPTO NERD'S IMAGINATION:
  2. HIS LAPTOP'S ENCRYPTED. LET'S BUILD A MILLION-DOLLAR CLUSTER TO CRACK IT.
  3. NO GOOD! IT'S 4096-BIT RSA!
  4. BLAST! OUR EVIL PLAN IS FOILED!
  5. WHAT WOULD ACTUALLY HAPPEN:
  6. HIS LAPTOP'S ENCRYPTED. DRUG HIM AND HIT HIM WITH THIS $5 WRENCH UNTIL HE TELLS US THE PASSWORD.
  7. GOT IT.

Credits

Original
Security — Randall Munroe, xkcd

The English page shows the original image unmodified. The Japanese page shows an adaptation by wtfe²: the lettering was erased from the art and replaced with a Japanese translation. The adaptation is shared under the same license as the original.