SAFE: Secure Automated File Exchange

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Secure Automated File Exchange, S.A.F.E., or SAFE, provided automatic, automatable, and far more secure exchanges of files among systems using modem communications. SAFE was designed and implemented by Jay Nickson, proprietor of OnDisk Software.

SAFE was fully automatable providing complete separation of form and function. In the era of Bulletin Board Systems, or BBS systems, generally the interface for acquiring file was a primitive, often tedious, character based GUI.

SAFE shipped from 1989 through 1994 and was used in commerce and journalism. The use of program awareness of programmatic resources on the client machine, and the capability to download additional material or programs as needed, preceded the Eolas implementation and patent of similar techniques by at least three years.

[edit] SAFE's paradigm

1. You have some files you want to send to the SAFE box, and/or
2. You wish to call a SAFE box to see if there are files to pickup.
3. The public can call and do some tasks (fully configurable by the sysop).

A SAFE session is:

1. The user selects any files to be sent by a file manager like program, **offline**.
   1. The files are zipped into a SAFE outbox
   2. Fully automated procedures could use a script for this step.
2. The user runs SAFESEND, still offline
   1. The user selects the SAFE box to send the files to.
   2. The user says “GO”
3. The SAFESEND program
   1. Dials the SAFE box; **Online**
   2. Submits a sixteen character single use password.
   3. Calculates and saves the single use password for the next session.
   4. Sends any files to be sent.
   5. Picks up files for this user
   6. Disconnects, **offline**
   7. Decompresses the received files.
4. Completes the session.

Other features of SAFE were, all were optional based upon administrative configuration, as were the SAFE Sessions above.

1. Adaptable packet sizing based on line noise. A SAFE client would automatically negotiate packet sizes from the initial 1024 to between 256 and 4096, depending on line noise and the success rate of packets.
2. Point to point telecom packages, like SAFE, do not need routing information vastly improving the efficiency of packet transfers.
3. All packets were protected by Crc16 signatures, Crc32 after 1991.
4. The public could dial in and
   1. retrieve a list of publicly available documents or files
   2. download any of the publicly available documents or files
   3. send (upload) files
   4. send a text message to the sysop
5. Optionally a SAFE client could look at the Windows list of associations for file types, and, for example, if a DOC file was received it could launch Word.
6. The SAFE client could, optionally, when receiving executable programs and libraries, determine which, if any, were already present on the user's system and skip the downloads. For example if one wanted to distribute multiple Bricklin Demo files and the Bricklin RTE for Demo: for the first Demo request all the program materials would be sent; if the user asked for a second demo, the SAFE client would note that the program's materials were already there and only download the Demo date file.
7. Support support included password protected single time pickups of a file, useful for support personnel to tell someone:
   1. Your new version is ready
   2. Dial our SAFE box. pickup file yyyyyyyy and use “xxxxxxxxxxxx' for the pickup password.
   3. Completion of delivery would be logged and the single pickup file erased.
8. Encryption was not included. All SAFE transfers are completely compatible with any encryption algorithm

Because of complete automation and no user interaction, a SAFE session was frequently less than a minute. In an era of big brother watching internet communications, it is interesting to consider the possibilities of very quick phone to phone file transfers for regime oppressed peoples.