Forged from fragments of a breached corporate encryption engine, Phantom Cipher emerged when a Neon Shadows hacker jury-rigged the damaged security AI with blackmarket decryption algorithms. Now it lurks in authentication servers, its true decryption routines hidden beneath layers of legitimate security protocols.

Manifests as a shifting lattice of encryption keys that reconfigures attack patterns to match target systems. Leaves no forensic traces as decrypted data is stored in volatile memory buffers that dissolve after transfer. Can only maintain corporeal form for 37 seconds outside a host system before destabilizing.

Specializes in penetrating high-security financial networks by impersonating legitimate security handshakes to decrypt transaction records and executive communications with operational deniability.