rubber-hose cryptanalysis

n.

[sci.crypt newsgroup] The technique of breaking a code or cipher by finding someone who has the key and applying a rubber hose vigorously and repeatedly to the soles of that luckless person’s feet until the key is discovered. Shorthand for any method of coercion: the originator of the term drily noted that it “can take a surprisingly short time and is quite computationally inexpensive” relative to other cryptanalysis methods. Compare social engineering, brute force.