Posted on 10/17/2016 9:26:09 AM PDT by servo1969
Over the past 24 hours, Wikileaks has been tweeting out very cryptic numbers without any context. What are they? Why are they tweeting them out? We've got answers.
Wikileaks Precommitment
To understand what these numbers mean, we first should understand what a "pre-commitment" is. According to Wikipedia, a precommitment means:
Precommitment is a strategy in which a party to a conflict uses a commitment device to strengthen its position by cutting off some of its options to make its threats more credible. Any party employing a Strategy of Deterrence faces the problem that retaliating against an attack may ultimately result in significant damage to their own side. If this damage is significant enough, then the opponent may take the view that such retaliation would be irrational, and therefore, that the threat lacks credibility, and hence, it ceases to be an effective deterrent. Precommitment improves the credibility of a threat, either by imposing significant penalties on the threatening party for not following through, or, by making it impossible to not respond.
This means that they will definitely perform an action. Wikipedia uses the example of burning a bridge after crossing it, so they can't possibly retreat.
So Wikileaks is threatening to everyone that they are definitely going to perform some action -- so what is it? And why do they feel the need to threaten?
We also need to look at what a commitment scheme is (again from Wikipedia):
A way to visualize a commitment scheme is to think of a sender as putting a message in a locked box, and giving the box to a receiver. The message in the box is hidden from the receiver, who cannot open the lock themselves. Since the receiver has the box, the message inside cannot be changed—merely revealed if the sender chooses to give them the key at some later time.
Wikileaks Hash, Key, Encryption Numbers
The numbers that Wikileaks posted:
4bb96075acadc3d80b5ac872874c3037a386f4f595fe99e687439aabd0219809,
eae5c9b064ed649ba468f0800abf8b56ae5cfe355b93b1ce90a1b92a48a9ab72,
and f33a6de5c627e3270ed3e02f62cd0c857467a780cf6123d2172d80d02a072f74 appear to be what are called hashes or keys.
There are two theories about this.
The first theory is that the numbers are hashes, which will be used to verify some information.
The second theory is that they are keys, as part of a scheme, so that if things go wrong, information can be released.
Read on for details.
Wikileaks pre-commitment 1: John Kerry 4bb96075acadc3d80b5ac872874c3037a386f4f595fe99e687439aabd0219809
As an example, let's look at pre-commitment 1. The number 4bb96075acadc3d80b5ac872874c3037a386f4f595fe99e687439aabd0219809 is related to some material to be released on John Kerry.
In theory 1, this would be a verification for the authenticity of the material. But that doesn't sound particularly useful.
However, in theory 2, that is a number that would unlock material that someone has. Now, that could be useful... Why?
Wikileaks pre-commitment 2: Ecuador eae5c9b064ed649ba468f0800abf8b56ae5cfe355b93b1ce90a1b92a48a9ab72
In theory 2, we would have to assume that certain people all over the world have access to this information -- 3 sets, one on John Kerry, one on the UK FCO, and one on Ecuador (which is strange because Assange is in the Ecuadorian embassy -- perhaps these are code names?).
Whoever has these materials all over the world would be unable to read them or do anything with them since they are encrypted. But with the key that Assange tweeted out, suddenly these materials become readable and possible to disseminate.
But why now and why haven't they done this before?
Wikileaks pre-commitment 3: UK FCO f33a6de5c627e3270ed3e02f62cd0c857467a780cf6123d2172d80d02a072f74
The reason they're doing this now is because it appears that Assange thinks things are going to "go down" for him. We've seen strange things have been happening to Wikileaks and Assange over the past week.
There have been a lot of DDOS attacks, which are attacks in which a bunch of computers -- generally spread out all over -- keep connecting and sending data to a target in order to flood that target. So in Wikileaks case, someone has been trying to make the Wikileaks server inaccessible.
And now Wikileaks has released this:
Julian Assange's internet link has been intentionally severed by a state party. We have activated the appropriate contingency plans.
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) October 17, 2016
So clearly Assange thinks something big is going to happen.
Wikileaks Contingency Plan
So what is the Wikileaks contingency plan. Well, it appears that there are operatives across the world who have the packets of information described above, and that Wikileaks has just given them the green light to do something with them. Now that the keys are public, the holders of the information can look at it and post it as they choose.
So if Assange is killed, or captured, or his servers are confiscated or somehow incapacitated, the material will still be released.
What does this mean? Clearly, Assange thinks something serious is about to happen, and he wants to ensure that the information that he has becomes public.
Now what does Assange think is going to happen to him? And what is the material contained in those three packets? We don't know yet, but we'll likely find out soon.
:-)
What do you think the Pamela Anderson lunch delivery business was? Odd, huh. A message maybe?
Insurance files [edit] On 29 July 2010 WikiLeaks added an "Insurance file" to the Afghan War Diary page. The file is AES encrypted.[80][81] There has been speculation that it was intended to serve as insurance in case the WikiLeaks website or its spokesman Julian Assange are incapacitated, upon which the passphrase could be published.[82][83] After the first few days' release of the US diplomatic cables starting 28 November 2010, the US television broadcasting company CBS predicted that "If anything happens to Assange or the website, a key will go out to unlock the files. There would then be no way to stop the information from spreading like wildfire because so many people already have copies."[84] CBS correspondent Declan McCullagh stated, "What most folks are speculating is that the insurance file contains unreleased information that would be especially embarrassing to the US government if it were released."[84]-- WikipediaOn 22 February 2012, there was another insurance file release.[85][86] The insurance files are not to be confused with another encrypted file containing diplomatic cables, the password of which has been compromised. The insurance files' passwords have not been compromised and their contents are still unknown.
On 17 August 2013, WikiLeaks released another three insurance files.[87] Like previous insurance files, the contents of these three insurance files are still unknown.
On 3 June 2016, WikiLeaks released an 87.6 GiB AES-256 encrypted insurance file.
He’s in the Ecudoran embassy in London, not Ecudor the country.
Bull Shit. They could get him out and they would never know it.
” What’s he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;
If we are mark’d to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God’s will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive. “
GO TRUMP!
Spposedly Pamela Anderson poisoned him with a veggie sandwich.
The pre-commitment tweets suggest WikiLeaks is in possession of data concerning the aforementioned governments. Releasing the 64-character codes allows any upcoming data dumps to be verified and checked for any unwarranted alteration.
Phil Zimmermann is smiling today.
The German enigma machine had 1.5 x 10^19 combinations. On the order of 15,000,000,000,000,000,000 combinations.
A 64 digit alpha number code would have 4 x 10^99 combinations. That’s 4 with 99 zeros after it.
That’s said, if they are “single use” codes, which they probably are, they be impossible to guess.
Agreed. These are SHA256 checksums.
Ain’t never going to happen.
Quit talking and release it yesterday.
Yeah. Anyone familiar with hash signatures would recognize that instantly as a SHA-256.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.