A method of securely storing a target number is provided based on the Chinese-Remainder Theorem, A set of n congruence pairs of numbers are generated, wherein a target number (a secret) can be uniquely derived from any t out of the n pairs. In one aspect the divisors are pre-selected such that any randomly selected n integers from the sequence are a valid Asmuth-Bloom sequence for any access structure (t, n) where 1