Portions of Cryptonomicon contain large amounts of exposition. Several pages are spent explaining in detail some of the concepts behind cryptography and data storage security, including a description of Van Eck phreaking.
Cryptography
Pontifex Cipher
In the book, a playing-card based cipher called Pontifex is used. At Stephenson's request, Bruce Schneier developed such a cipher, calling it Solitaire, and a precise description of Solitaire is included as an appendix. Solitaire was cryptanalyzed in 1999.[4]
One-time pad
Several of the characters in the book communicate with each other through the use of one-time pads. A one-time pad (OTP) is an encryption technique that requires a single-use pre-shared key of at least the same length as the encrypted message.
The story posits a variation of the OTP technique wherein there is no pre-shared key - the key is instead generated algorithmically.
Software
Finux
He also describes computers using a fictional operating system, Finux. The name is a thinly veiled reference to Linux, a kernel originally written by the Finnish native Linus Torvalds. Stephenson changed the name so as not to be creatively constrained by the technical details of Linux-based operating systems.[5]
Other technology
- Carbon arc lamp
- The Dun improved galvanic element[6]
- Mercury acoustic delay-line computer memory
