Other Code Cylinder

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CODE CYLINDER

AFFILIATION
Free use.

MANUFACTURER
Various.

TYPE
Secure information storage device.POWER SUPPLY
N/A.

SENSORS
N/A.

SIZE
Stylus-sized.

COMPOSITION
Stainless inoxium.

DESCRIPTION​

Code cylinders are - and have been for millennia - a type of secure information storage device. Resembling a stylus, code cylinders plug directly into a standard I/O socket, of the type commonly found on most droids and computer systems. Code cylinders use a secure, high-level, hardware-based encryption system; decryption of the information stored on a code cylinder can be accomplished with a device as simple as a datapad, however, provided that the proper decryption software is utilized.

Code cylinders are primarily used to store sensitive data; this can range from important documents to personal identification codes. Code cylinders are often used to verify security clearance, for example, with personnel working in or visiting secure facilities being issued a personal code cylinder containing their clearances, as well as identity information. Code cylinders are also often used by couriers to transfer sensitive data without using electronic communication networks, which can be sliced much more easily.

Code cylinders, due to their secure encryption hardware, are much more difficult to forge or duplicate than the equivalent datacard. They are "write once, read many" devices, meaning that after they have been encoded, the core information on them cannot be altered without considerable effort, although most code cylinders contain a re-writable metadata track that stores information on which devices have been used to access the cylinder's contents.

The encryption of code cylinders is generally formidable. Slicing into a code cylinder to read its data is a 2 round action; 1 round to determine the encryption used, plus 1 to fully decrypt the data so that it is legible. A device with the decryption key for a given code cylinder pre-loaded - say, an officer's datapad - would not require this, but getting hold of one should not be done casually. Duplicating the contents of a code cylinder, regardless of possession of the decryption key, is an additional 1 round action.

Forging a code cylinder, or altering the data stored on it, requires specialized equipment, described elsewhere. The access metadata track of a code cylinder, which will tell anyone looking who has had access to the device in the past, can be altered without such equipment, but doing so requires a conscious mention during the thread where the code cylinder is accessed in order to be considered valid.

LEGALITY​

Legal. Code cylinders have a number of applications both in both the military and civilian sectors, and are widely used across the Galaxy.

INTENT​

To create a secure data storage device befitting any sensitive information that characters may want to transfer, or steal. Code cylinders would also function as the equivalent of an ID card.