ARGOT

Email DONTEC at ops@dontec.org for a quote.

(Definition of argot: a specialized idiomatic vocabulary peculiar to a particular class or group of people, especially that of an underworld group, devised for private communication and identification)

• Uncrackable, offline, airgap, text encryption tool

• Useful for unencrypted mediums such as the public internet or plaintext radio chat

• Generation of key can occur at any echelon at any time

System Requirements

• 32-bit or 64-bit Windows device with Microsoft Excel 2019 or newer

Genesis

• ARGOT was created due to two major catalysts:

  • Experience with the difficult and time-consuming process of coordinating keys for infantry and artillery units to communicate during joint exercises

  • Tactical operators' requests for secure communications over civilian networks when the devices used aren’t pre-planned or of a known model and type

Purpose

• ARGOT encrypts and decrypts written messages and is an electronic “codebook” agnostic to how those messages will be transmitted. 

Limitations of Current Practices

• centrally-managed keys: 

  • Only work on specific devices

  • Usually requires the same equipment string at each node (less survivable, heavy footprint, less interoperable)

  • Requires NSA-approved encryption hardware to be maintained

  • Sharing keys requires complex agreements be put in place

  • Often requires months of lead time

• Speak in plaintext:

  • Risky due to interception

  • Not recommended

• Execution checklist/code words

  • A middle-ground between centrally-managed keys and speaking in the clear

  • CANNOT arbitrarily encode any message… messages must be pre-planned and have codes specifically generated for them, but this does not support evolving situations

ARGOT's Approach

• Produces encrypted messages that can be sent via any available means

• Completely interoperable: can be used with partners reliant on cellular services like LINE and Whatsapp

• No NSA-approved encryption hardware is needed

• Like execution checklists/code word definition documents, the messages aren’t sensitive, but the codebook is

• Sharing keys can be done as late as the day of the event via disk distribution

• For short deployments, an hour of preparation time can be more than enough

• No risk of messages being read (assuming proper use)

• can encode any written message

Tactical Benefits

• SURVIVABILITY:

  • Increased survivability due to reduced need for identical equipment strings at each node

  • Allows communication using local communications networks and devices without creating a unique signature

• INTEROPERABILITY:

  • Increased interoperability due to allowing common encryption method across different equipment between partners

• TEMPO:

  • No NSA-approved encryption hardware needed, reducing administrative requirements

  • Unit can generate keys locally, reducing key coordination requirements by weeks

Limitations

• ARGOT encrypts written messages, not application data/photographs/files/etc.

• Slower than inline encryption: ARGOT codebook with key loaded must be kept offline, so encrypted messages must be air-gapped/burned to disk/etc. and moved to the communications device that will be used to send them.