DIGITAL FORTRESS: Plot summary
Here is the plot summary of Dan Brown’s novel “Digital Fortress”:
The National Security Agency (NSA) is a vital intelligence agency of the United States government entrusted with the crucial task of monitoring, collecting, and processing global information and data for both foreign and domestic intelligence purposes. In 1996, the NSA constructed an impressive supercomputer known as “TRANSLTR,” which boasted the capability to crack any code known to humanity. However, it encountered a formidable challenge when faced with a complex encryption called “Digital Fortress,” leaving it perplexed and incapable of deciphering the code’s secrets. This enigmatic code, as it turned out, was the creation of Ensei Tankado, a former NSA employee who had departed the agency due to his vehement disapproval of its intrusions into individuals’ private lives.
Tankado, in a desperate bid to assert his power and retaliate against the NSA’s perceived invasiveness, threatened to auction off the algorithm of Digital Fortress on his website after his death, with his partner known as “North Dakota” prepared to unveil it to the public free of charge. The release of Digital Fortress into the open posed a grave danger to national security. Tragically, Tankado suffered a fatal heart attack in Seville, Spain, and in a calculated move, Commander Trevor Strathmore concealed his demise to prevent Tankado’s partner from learning the truth, which would have led to the code’s revelation. The NSA was determined to prevent Digital Fortress from becoming public at any cost.
Discovering that Tankado had encoded the passcode to unlock Digital Fortress on a golden ring he wore until his death, Strathmore enlisted the help of Susan Fletcher’s fiancé, David Becker, to retrieve the ring in Seville. However, upon Becker’s arrival, he learned that Tankado had already given the ring away just before his demise. Becker’s relentless pursuit of the ring’s recipient put him in grave danger as he found himself relentlessly pursued by a shadowy assassin nicknamed Hulohot, who killed anyone connected to the ring.
Meanwhile, the head of a prominent Japanese computer company, Tokugen Numataka, received several calls from North Dakota, revealing their intention to hire Hulohot to eliminate Tankado, secure the ring, and hasten the release of the algorithm. Susan’s investigations at the NSA led her to suspect her colleague Greg Hale of being North Dakota. Unbeknownst to Phil Chartrukian, an NSA technician who mistakenly believed that Digital Fortress was a virus, the failure to crack the code, Susan delved into the possibility of Strathmore allowing Digital Fortress to bypass the NSA’s virus/worm filter, Gauntlet. Chartrukian, valiantly attempting to protect TRANSLTR, inadvertently discovered the true extent of the conspiracy but tragically lost his life when attacked and pushed off the sub-levels.
To evade arrest for Chartrukian’s murder, Hale held both Susan and Strathmore captive, revealing to Susan that the email he claimed to have received from Tankado was actually in Strathmore’s possession. Susan’s keen investigation skills led her to uncover the truth, linking Ensei Tankado and North Dakota as the same person through an anagram: “NDAKOTA” was an anagram of “TANKADO.” Strathmore murdered Hale, staging it as a suicide, but Susan, utilizing her resourcefulness, managed to uncover evidence of Strathmore’s involvement in the killings by tapping into his pager. Becker, relentlessly pursuing Hulohot, barely escaped with his life after eliminating the assassin.
As the story unfolded from Strathmore’s perspective, his true motives became clear — he masterminded the entire plot out of his infatuation with Susan, intending to eliminate David and manipulate Susan into reciprocating his feelings. His grand plan also involved gaining recognition as a national hero by unlocking Digital Fortress. Strathmore repeatedly contacted Tokugen Numataka, pretending to be North Dakota, urging him to produce Digital Fortress chips with a built-in backdoor Trojan, allowing the NSA to secretly monitor all computers employing the chip. However, Strathmore remained oblivious to the fact that Digital Fortress was, in fact, a computer worm that, once activated, compromised the security of the NSA databank and granted hackers access to classified government secrets.
As TRANSLTR began to overheat and succumb to flames, Strathmore met his demise when standing near the exploding supercomputer. In a race against time, the worm eventually infiltrated the NSA’s primary databank, rendering it vulnerable to hackers worldwide. Tankado had provided a kill-code, but with his death, obtaining the pass-key seemed impossible, leaving the databank in dire jeopardy. Susan and other NSA experts exerted their utmost efforts to guess the pass-key, and in a tense moment, David Becker, in a video call from Seville, managed to decipher the passcode mere seconds before the final defense systems faltered. The passcode turned out to be a reference to the atomic bombs that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki—Isotope 235 and Isotope 238, respectively—symbolizing Tankado’s personal tragedy. Susan successfully terminated the worm before hackers could access significant data.
The epilogue of the story reveals that Ensei Tankado’s father, Numataka, had abandoned him on the day of his birth due to his physical abnormalities. As the sole surviving relative, Numataka inherits the ring and all of Tankado’s possessions, including the one with the inscriptions in gold.
INTRODUCTION 
THEMES AND MOTIFS CURIOSITY & SUSPENSE
CRITICAL ANALYSIS IMPORTANT CHARACTERS CLIFFHANGERS IN THE NOVEL
