//edit 0317XXlog.rtf

//Message Via Darknet:
//From: Mephisto
//To: Cellar
//Subject: Darknet Config

//Body: Howdy folks. You may have noticed some structural changes to the darknet. I'm just taking a moment here to bring you up to speed on how to make use of our newly integrated encryption service and covert nodes.

Our new system functions via a personal-context-driven security handshake. Call them digital signatures. The way you address and sign messages over the darknet is tantamount to operational security. It is one way that you can verify your identity to a trusted party, without revealing it. For example:

Andrew knows Bobby's favorite sports team, the Leviathon Llamas. He also knows that Bobby knows that Andrew's team is the Midian Mongeese. With this knowledge, he composes the following message:

////MVD:
////From: Mongoose
////To: Llama
////Subject: This is the subject line.

////Body: This is a message.
////End of Line

Bobby, who recieves this message on the other end of the line, remembers the sports conversation that he had with Andrew, and now, with a calm mind and a steady hand, composes a reply. This time, in his reply, he uses two new names, based upon their shared love of avant garde theatre.

////MVD:
////From: Beckett
////To: Godot
////Subject: I'm waiting.

////Body: Where are you?
////End of Line

Note how Bobby has used the From/To exchange to infer the purpose of his message. With practice, a user can communicate on two entirely different levels, using the exchange to highlight, contradict, or manipulate the meaning of the actual message. Have fun with this, honestly. If you create a From/To exchange that you believe the recipient may find amusing, it is much more likely that they will recognize you as the sender.

Currently, we are also using traditional public-key cryptography to encrypt messages sent via the darknet. However, given limitations regarding the amount of bandwidth available to us, especially on Midian itself, the size of the key we are using is rather small. In layman terms: it's not entirely safe. This message is an exception. Sent using an 8196 bit key, it should take a black-hat hacker a good couple of centuries to crack. However, it ties the lines of the darknet, interrupts traffic, and takes ages to get to people. Do not use 8196. For general communication, 512 bit keys should suffice, as the information contained therein should generally be out of date, and of limited utility in the week or two it should take for a UAC cryptanalyst to break the code.

To augment security, the darknet automatically parses it through a steganographic device which hides your message in pornographic/spamblast emails. Do not be alarmed if your messages are punctuated with such as the following:

****************************************************
I must say, you guys have the fuel that makes the car run.. Not sure what you put in those little pills, but they work!
TUVM
LAMAR TAYLOR
****************************************************

This is a known issue, and does not present any security hazards.

Cheers, and happy chatting.

//End of Line.