Diaries Written in Code
Many throughout history.
Entries Tagged "history of cryptography"
Page 11 of 12
Bletchley Park May Close Due to Lack of Funds
Sad.
But, despite an impressive contribution to the war effort, the Bletchley Park site, now a museum, faces a bleak future unless it can secure funding to keep its doors open and its numerous exhibits from rotting away.
The Bletchley Park Trust receives no external funding. It has been deemed ineligible for funding by the National Lottery, and turned down by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation because the Microsoft founder will only fund internet-based technology projects.
“We are just about surviving. Money—or lack of it—is our big problem here. I think we have two to three more years of survival, but we need this time to find a solution to this,” said Simon Greenish, the Trust’s director.
As a result of lack of funds, the Trust is unable to rebuild the site’s rotting infrastructure and faces an uncertain future. “The Trust is the hardest-up museum I know,” said Greenish. “We have this huge estate to run and it’s one of the most important World War II stories there is.”
Anybody out there want to help put together a major contribution?
EDITED TO ADD (5/30): Yes, I am willing to be a focal point for donations. But I’m hoping for some major donors.
NSA on the Enigma
Excellent and well-written article.
Martin Hellman on the Invention of Public-Key Cryptography
At the DISI conference last December, Martin Hellman gave a lecture on the invention of public-key cryptography. A video is online (it’s hard to find, search for his name), along with PowerPoint slides.
(Unfortunately, the video isn’t set up for streaming; in order to view the it, you’ll have to download the ten files, then use a fairly recent version of WinZip to concatenate the files.)
EDITED TO ADD (3/26): Now on Google Video.
NSA Backdoors in Crypto AG Ciphering Machines
This story made the rounds in European newspapers about ten years ago—mostly stories in German, if I remember—but it wasn’t covered much here in the U.S.
For half a century, Crypto AG, a Swiss company located in Zug, has sold to more than 100 countries the encryption machines their officials rely upon to exchange their most sensitive economic, diplomatic and military messages. Crypto AG was founded in 1952 by the legendary (Russian born) Swedish cryptographer Boris Hagelin. During World War II, Hagelin sold 140,000 of his machine to the US Army.
“In the meantime, the Crypto AG has built up long standing cooperative relations with customers in 130 countries,” states a prospectus of the company. The home page of the company Web site says, “Crypto AG is the preferred top-security partner for civilian and military authorities worldwide. Security is our business and will always remain our business.”
And for all those years, US eavesdroppers could read these messages without the least difficulty. A decade after the end of WWII, the NSA, also known as No Such Agency, had rigged the Crypto AG machines in various ways according to the targeted countries. It is probably no exaggeration to state that this 20th century version of the “Trojan horse” is quite likely the greatest sting in modern history.
We don’t know the truth here, but the article lays out the evidence pretty well.
See this essay of mine on how the NSA might have been able to read Iranian encrypted traffic.
Colossus Has Been Rebuilt
The World War II factoring machine, Colossus, is back online.
Not surprisingly, a modern PC is faster.
NASA Using 1960s Cryptanalysis Techniques
Well, sort of.
This paper from the Goddard Space Center, “NiCd Space Battery Test Data Analysis Project, Phase 2 Quarterly Report, 1 Jan. – 30 Apr. 1967,” uses “cryptanalytic techniques”—some sort of tri-gram frequency analysis, I think—to ferret out hidden clues about battery failures.
It’s hard to imagine non-NSA cryptography in the U.S. from the 1960s. Basically, it was all alphabetic stuff. Even rotor machines were highly classified, and absolutely nothing was being done in binary.
1624 Cryptography Book Up for Auction
Rare 17th Century work on Cryptography
Title: Cryptomenytices et cryptographiae libri IX. In quibus & planissima Steganographiae à Johanne Trithemio, abbate Spanheymensi & Herbipolensi, admirandi ingenij viro, magicè & aenigmaticè olim conscriptae, enodatio traditur. Inspersis ubiquè authoris ac aliorum, non contemnendis inventis…
Author: Selenus, Gustavus [pseud. of August, Duke of Braunschweig-Luneburg]
Auction on September 13. Estimated price $5,000-$8,000.
EDITED TO ADD (9/13): A partial English translation.
Enigma Machine for Sale on eBay
A World War II German Enigma machine (three-rotor version) is for sale on eBay right now. At this writing, there have been about 60 bids, and the current price is $20K. This is below the reserve price, which means that the machine won’t sell until it reaches that (secret) price.
It’s expensive, but probably worth it. The Enigma looks like it’s in perfect condition—the seller claims “full working condition with extra lamps”—and includes the manual. All five rotors are included: three in the machine and the other two in a box. The three-rotor version is the most common, but it’s still very rare.
Of course I’d like it for myself—I have a three-rotor Enigma, but it’s missing all its rotors and some of its lamps—but not at that price.
And we can’t see who’s bidding, either. Recently eBay made a change in how it displays auction bids: it hides bidder identities when the auction price gets high. This is to combat “second chance fraud,” where a fraudster contacts a buyer who lost an auction and offers him the same article at the slightly lower losing price, then disappears after receiving payment.
The auction closes in eight days. Good luck.
EDITED TO ADD (7/19): The listing as been pulled; eBay doesn’t say why. The price was $25K after 64 bids when I last saw it; the price was still below the reserve.
EDITED TO ADD (7/20): It’s been relisted. The seller says that the other auction was taking down because of a “problem with pictures” (odd, because the new pictures don’t seem different), and that the reserve price of $28K was met. You can “buy it now” for $50K, or make your best offer. I’m really curious what the final price for this will be—I don’t think it’s worth anywhere near $50K.
EDITED TO ADD (7/20): Sold for $30K. I don’t know why the seller decided to use this alternate eBay system, instead of relisting it as an auction. My guess is that he could have gotten more than $30K if he let the auction run its course over the week.
Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.