The secret of war lies in the communications. — Napoleon
Humans are social creatures. From the moment we’re born, we begin working to communicate with those around us — it starts with parents, siblings, and extended family, then friends and classmates, and eventually coworkers, spouses, and children of our own. In the best of times, our ability to communicate is fundamental to our happiness, but it’s when things go wrong that we feel its true importance. Whether it’s lost hikers in the backcountry, a town devastated by a natural disaster, or a country ravaged by war, our instinct is to call for help from neighbors, authorities, and allies.
However, there’s another truth that must be acknowledged: Humans are predators. Even before organized societies formed, we hunted to stay alive — not with tooth and claw, but with our wits and the tools we devised. First, we hunted animals for food, and then we hunted other humans to prevent them from taking our food. Thus came the never-ending series of conflicts that have defined (and destroyed) countless nations.
These two characteristics — social communicator and intelligent hunter — go hand-in-hand. As our weapons and technology developed over the millennia, so have our abilities to communicate and hunt. But it didn’t take long for these skill sets to be weaponized against each other. When our enemies attempted to communicate, we sent spies to intercept their messages. Recognizing this danger, they attempted to obscure their communications through the use of codes. Recorded examples of this date back as far as 1900 BC, when ancient Egyptians used non-standard hieroglyphics to conceal the meaning of messages. In response, we have assigned some of our best and brightest minds to the task of decoding encoded messages. This led to the arms race of communication security (COM-SEC) that rages on today.
The Value of Encryption
“Why COMSEC is Important,” a U.S. Air Force memo published in 2018, explains succinctly:
Communication security can be something as simple as a decoder ring you received in the mail as a child or as advanced as an electronic mathematical algorithm created for securing satellite communications thousands of miles away in space.
Cryptographic security and the encryption of information are probably the most recognized disciplines within COMSEC. The military and other government entities use encryption to protect classified information, businesses use encryption to protect trade secrets, and hospitals use encryption to protect patient information. Encryption can also be used on computer systems to protect files containing personal information such as social security numbers, credit cards, tax information, email, and chat histories. This ensures that even if your laptop or cell phone is stolen, the data contained is still secure and unreadable by others.
The compromise or mismanagement of COMSEC can negatively impact our lives in many ways by means of identity theft, turning the tides of war, or possibly causing unnecessary loss of life.
Legality and Restrictions: Unfortunately, as
