I spend a lot of my time polishing my explanation of why the algorithms we use are secure (namely that you can’t figure out the file that generated a specific hash from the hash) and it’s always a little saddening when I get responses along the lines of “Can’t you hack it?”
Apparently on this week’s episode of 24, there was a particularly bad example of this problem:
JG: Mr. O’Brian, a short time ago one of our agents was in touch with Jack Bauer. She sent a name and address that we assume is his next destination. Unfortunately, it’s encrypted with Blowfish 148 and no one here knows how to crack that. Therefore, we need your help, please.
…
MO: The designer of this algorithm built a backdoor into his code. Decryption’s a piece of cake if you know the override codes.
LM: And you do?
MO: Yeah.
LM: Will this take long?
MO: Course not.
The dialogue is ridiculous on so many levels (as it tends to be on 24 for anything technical) but Blowfish is a real algorithm. But what is especially egregious (once you get past the slanderous claim that Bruce Schneier left a back door in the algorithm & that nobody found it) is that 24 frequently uses torture to get information and the only serious threat to modern cryptography is Rubber-Hose Cryptanalysis.