Abstract
Two chaotic systems which interact by mutually exchanging a signal built from their delayed internal variables, can synchronize. A third unit may be able to record and to manipulate the exchanged signal. Can the third unit synchronize to the common chaotic trajectory, as well? If all parameters of the system are public, a proof is given that the recording system can synchronize as well. However, if the two interacting systems use private commutative filters to generate the exchanged signal, a driven system cannot synchronize. It is shown that with dynamic private filters the chaotic trajectory even cannot be calculated. Hence two-way (interaction) is better than one-way (drive). The implication of this general result to secret communication with chaos synchronization is discussed.