Spoilers Star Trek II: Anyone else think it's odd that ...

[Doc Mugatu]

Anyone else think its odd that with the computing power of starships that the computer override access code for a Starfleet ship would be a simple 5 digit number? I mean how long would it have taken the Enterprise to break Reliant's code in a brute force attack? A nanosecond? It actually would have been quicker and easier to crack it than looking it up.

Just saying.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

Yeah, one could say "It was the 80s!", but even then I could program my Commodore PET in BASIC to cycle through all integers up to 100,000, and it would take less than a second. Presumably there was some encoding and/or security features that Kirk needed to override personally.

 

[Sareesataka]

As a kid, I bought it. But looking back, yeah, it's pretty simplistic. At least the password wasn't "password".

 

[WarpFactorZ]

As a kid, I bought it. But looking back, yeah, it's pretty simplistic. At least the password wasn't "password".

Maybe it was. Not canon!

 

[Timo]

I'm not worried about security here: the connection could have fifty million passwords and other safety checks that the audience and the user need not be aware of at all; the computer would already know that Spock is an authorized user and the Enterprise an authorized workstation for him. The number string is just the identifier for this particular starship, nothing more.

What does worry me is that the number string cannot have repeating numbers. That is, each digit is chosen by flipping a switch, which then obviously cannot be flipped again. So, instead of 99999 possible ships, the system can only identify, what, 10*9*8*7*6 = 30240 distinct ships. Probably sufficient, but a bit odd - why use the flipping switches to begin with? I mean, are they dedicated to the use of the prefix code? If not, why not use a generic keyboard that would give the full 99999 distinct numbers?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Qonundrum]

Reminds me of this...

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Or this, but this one's boring:

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[arch101]

Spock had Saavik working pretty hard for a few minutes leading up to the 5 digit input. Makes it look like there was a bunch of setup to do first. Also, as an Admiral, I always assumed Kirk had some kind of "senior fleet command override" he employed to make it possible.

 

[Kor]

It seemed that only Kirk and Spock were privy to this, as command-level staff. Saavik was pretty clueless about it until they filled her in on the little secret.

And this was the kind of thing that could only be done cleverly and freshly one time in all of Trekdom. As much as I love Marvel's old "Early Voyages" comic, I kind of groaned when this exact method was used in a ship-to-ship encounter in one of the stories.

Kor

 

[Pauln6]

I think the prefix code gets a mention in the fan created Enemy Starfleet.

 

[Admiral2]

Spaceships built with decks oriented like those on a seagoing vessel are unrealistic.

A single torpedo turning an entire nebula into a class M planet is unrealistic.

A training execise designed to teach military personnel how to lose gracefully is total bullshit.

If I can watch all that and still call TWoK my favorite trek movie, I could give a rat's ass if the Reliant's computers are protected by eighties level encryption, especially since it was made in the eighties.

 

[Kor]

@Admiral2 ah, but are Starfleet personnel military? One of the great questions of the ages. Perhaps somebody should start a thread to discuss this burning issue.

Kor

 

[arch101]

@Admiral2 ah, but are Starfleet personnel military? One of the great questions of the ages. Perhaps somebody should start a thread to discuss this burning issue.

Kor

Already more than enough threads about that, thank you. Nothing to see here. Move along. Move along.

 

[Sareesataka]

16309 is the same prefix code I use to get my wife to lower her shields.

 

[Vger23]

@Admiral2 ah, but are Starfleet personnel military? One of the great questions of the ages. Perhaps somebody should start a thread to discuss this burning issue.

Kor

Not only are they military, but they earn a decent wage from what I've heard.

 

[Mres_was_framed!]

I'm not worried about security here: the connection could have fifty million passwords and other safety checks that the audience and the user need not be aware of at all; the computer would already know that Spock is an authorized user and the Enterprise an authorized workstation for him. The number string is just the identifier for this particular starship, nothing more.

What does worry me is that the number string cannot have repeating numbers. That is, each digit is chosen by flipping a switch, which then obviously cannot be flipped again. So, instead of 99999 possible ships, the system can only identify, what, 10*9*8*7*6 = 30240 distinct ships. Probably sufficient, but a bit odd - why use the flipping switches to begin with? I mean, are they dedicated to the use of the prefix code? If not, why not use a generic keyboard that would give the full 99999 distinct numbers?

Timo Saloniemi

Perhaps the lack of a repeating number is because that cuts down on what would be used manually, and any enemy that tries something like 00000 would be detected. The flip switches might have some kind of authorization built in from the proximity of the user, assuming that some part of the TWOK uniform has the personal scanning device that was on the TMP uniform, but miniaturized.

 

[Manchester]

Reminds me of this...

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I had all of the code Data used memorized at one point.

 

[Manchester]

16309 is the same prefix code I use to get my wife to lower her shields.

Now we all know the code!

 

[Vger23]

I always just assumed there was a LOT more to it. It takes the Enterprise bridge staff some considerable time to prep to transmit the code. I always figured the code was like the "final doorway" to get through, or that it simply identified WHICH Starfleet ship was being taken over, and that a lot of additional process needs to take place before transmitting that element.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Spaceships built with decks oriented like those on a seagoing vessel are unrealistic.

How so?

 

[Admiral2]

How so?

Because, SCIENCE!

And that's all I'll say on the subject!