Security through obscurity
TightSlot, it's natural to want to keep trade secrets secret. However in many cases it's actually much better to open up security protocols to scrutiny. Not doing so is what we computer types call "security through obscurity" and it's been shown again and again to simply not work. Secret protocols are okay as long as they are truly secret. Which is pretty much impossible to achieve outside of the security services. (OK, let's amend that to "impossible to achieve full stop".) But even then the most secure encryption or security protocols are those where the whole methodology has been published for public scrutiny,
And, err, what do you think *you* know that Osama and friends wouldn't be
able to find out PDQ?