Specifically, I’m talking about their signet rings, seals, etc.
Couldn’t someone just make a copy? Or make one that looks extremely similar?
Imagine “hacking” the king. You could start wars or do whatever you wanted just by getting a letter sent somewhere.
I understand it’s not as easy as it sounds and one would have to first obtain said seal or wax imprint from a letter or something but I’m surprised I’ve never heard of it being done.
EDIT: Anyone else now wanna see a movie get made about someone (or some team) pulling off a ‘heist’ like this?? Obviously set back in the olden days.
In: 2491
Availability of technology during a particular period is an important consideration.
Today we can say, oh it’s so easy to replicate a signet ring. We are looking at all our micrometer precision tools, computer aided manufacturing, laser engraving, etc.
But back in the day, remember, this was 800, 1000, years ago or more… there was no such tech readily available to even the most elite craftsmen, and of course the lesser folk would not have it at all. Therefore the signet ring was really the highest security tech available, and also therefore incredibly difficult to replicate or “hack” for identity theft purposes.
Similarly we use highly obfuscated cryptographic encryption techniques for our modern day security. SHA256 and all that. Heck, we even encode our nuclear missiles with it. The security is nigh unbreakable… to us today.
But who’s to know that 1000 years later, how advanced things will be? An elementary school child with his quantum personal AI assistant might be able to crack SHA256 in three minutes, and then the kid might ask, “Why did our ancestors safeguard their nuclear bombs with such a simple code?”
Latest Answers