Code name

A code name, also a pseudonym, code name ( code name ), code name or Kryptonym, is a name that is used to disguise another term, or the identity of a person or a group, an operation or project. The code name is selected so that one can not infer the true meaning. Frequently find code name for the military, in intelligence and espionage in the use, but also in the industry to hide projects from the public and especially from competitors. Another area of ​​recent development is the anonymity of the Internet.

• 2.1 Choice of military code name
• 2.2 code names in the computer industry

Personal names

Pseudonyms and nick or user names on the Internet are fake names to disguise the true identity of a person. Pseudonymisch aliases are also the combat name (about Subcomandante Marcos ), and top names in the political opposition and political persecution. So, for example Herbert Frahm took in the fight against the Nazis in the name Willy Brandt that he pushed enter after the war as its official name.

The term Kryptonym emphasizes the aspect encrypted and is used with quite different meanings:

• In criminology grains 2007 defines it as " a thought-out names of perpetrators of secrecy and concealment the correct name in connection with a criminal offense".
• In the Literature ( Wilpert 2001) is Kryptonym a name of a person, which replaces the real name and makes unrecognizable. Eymer defined in 1997: " The Kryptonym describes an author's name, the letters are hidden in words, phrases or abbreviations. "

There are two common techniques for the formation of such Kryptonyme:

• Either the name is the first and / or last name obscured more or less on letters or syllables by abbreviation of the /; usually carried out abbreviations on first letter or syllables (eg,- ky as Verfasserkryptonym of detective novels by the author Horst Bosetzky, or authorship to the permanent editors of a journal )
• The name is hidden even in the text by his letters are distributed according to a particular system is

Typical encodings are anagrams ( this are the 160 pseudonyms of Voltaire known), or malapropisms.

Characterizing for these forms of names ( pseudonyms as a general group) to be self- selected - code name can be forgiven but ( as from higher authorities and group companions ), and are then Besides name, whether encrypting, for short, fanciful word or just as another name.

Originally they were also Kneip names in student organizations as a cover name, while they are used today as a nickname.

Personal code name for the secret

Personal code or code names are often used in intelligence and in collecting and sharing common OF ADMINISTRATIVE information. In GDR times, put the Ministry of State Security called IM ( " unofficial employees ") in the population. These were performed at the Stasi under code names, also in internal reports and records, making their identification after the end of the GDR was very difficult.

That the true identity of an informant and in particular an agent to persons who cooperate with him / her, is not known as a rule, is one the one hand the effectiveness of the activity, on the other hand, it serves the partial protection of the individual. In the case of the Ministry for State Security ( also known as " Stasi " ), the central offices had different lists, with which an assignment of real name, alias, etc. profession was possible. In terms of databases is called such operations intersection.

If code name " blow the whistle ", this often has significant consequences. So came on mysteriously during the change in the GDR a copy of the Stasi Mob file to the CIA so that the U.S. Secret Service, the clear and top names of the HVA agents knew, would in the " event of mobilization " ( wartime ) are activated should. The procurement was at the CIA operation Rosewood, the data extracts were later known as Rosewood files.

Code name as a code word for actions

• In the planning and conduct of operations that are to be kept secret ( intelligence, military), Kryptonyme be used for the purposes of passwords. In these cases, it's usually not to the concealment of personal names.
• In covert commando actions of the intelligence services or in difficult military operations, but also in the economy, it is often important that the opponents, competitors or the public as long as possible to remain hidden because of their importance.
• Since larger operations require a relatively long period of preparation, a catchy code name for it is expedient for the use of language of the participants.

Known examples from 1941 to 1944 are the aliases German military operations during World War II and the U- shift ( underground shift ) German armament factories.

• D -Day, is often used in English - usually in the sense of date (Decision Day " Day of Decision " Delivery Day " day of service " or Doomsday " Day of Judgment " ) - known as the day of the landing in Normandy June 6, 1944 began. With her ​​the Operation Overlord began the landing itself went under the code name Neptune.

Choice of military code name

On the one hand there are names which address the goal or the motivation of the action in encrypted form, as exemplified Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The name of the Rhine exercise could be interpreted ( as a military keeping free of the back).

On the other hand, are names from mythology determine, as with Operation Greif, Neptune and others, or allusions to the geography (symbol Sunflower), and military history (eg Operation Operation Dragoon (1941 ) for Dragoon, Operation Barbarossa in memory of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa ).

Code names in the computer industry

During the development of hardware or software product is often given a code name to refer to it in the current project. This project code names are mainly intended for internal use and are usually replaced after completion of the development by marketingtauglichere name.

In recent years, the trend rose that computer companies their code name more into the public domain and also include these names in the marketing strategy.

• As an example that would be developed by Apple Inc. Mac OS X to call, whose versions 10.0 to 10.5 early under its codename Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger and Leopard were known.
• Microsoft often uses names of famous places to refer to projects of versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Examples include Daytona (Windows NT 3.5), Chicago ( Windows 95), Cairo (Windows NT 4.0), Memphis (Windows 98), Georgia (Windows Me), Whistler (Windows XP) and Longhorn (Windows Vista). Even for its operating system Windows Server 2008 was long its codename Longhorn versions found even in the first public beta use. A break with this tradition commits Microsoft with the Vista successor, whose code name Vienna in Windows 7 has been changed (see also Windows code name).
• Intel names CPU projects for places and rivers in the vicinity of the respective Intel development laboratories. Because most CPUs have been developed by Intel in the U.S. state of Oregon, especially names of rivers in the American West were awarded as a code name. Examples include Willamette, Deschutes, Yamhill, Tualatin, Clackamas or Nehalem. CPUs from Intel's development department in Israel they have code names whose origins are places and rivers from around Haifa, such as Banias or Dothan.
• AMD's 90-nm and 65 - nm CPUs, while the K8 microarchitecture codenamed own by cities around the globe. For the Phenom CPUs, the chipmaker used names of stars. Some examples are: The mononuclear Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX: Newcastle, Venice, San Diego and Lima
• The binuclear Athlon 64 X2 and Athlon 64 FX: Manchester, Windsor and Brisbane
• Phenom CPUs: Altair, Antares, Arcturus and Spica