[Cryptography] What is a secure conversation? (Was: online forums...)

[Alan Braggins]

On 01/01/14 18:28, Patrick Mylund Nielsen wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 1, 2014 at 11:47 AM, Phillip Hallam-Baker <hallam at gmail.com
> <mailto:hallam at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>>     The nuclear codes leaked long ago. I know the navy one from the 60s

> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/12/launch-code-for-us-nukes-was-00000000-for-20-years/

I've seen another version of that story that adds an important detail,
but I don't know which version is correct.

The other version is that there were codes added to ensure that US
nukes deployed in other NATO countries could only be launched with
co-operation of both the US and the "host" country, and those codes 
always all zeroes for nukes that were under exclusive US control.

The all zero code was not really a "launch code"; launching a missile
involved a lot more than checking that code:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/05/nuclear-missile-code-00000000-cold-war_n_4386784.html