Cryptography Reference
In-Depth Information
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No character is transformed onto itself.
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Each rotor was turned further by the left neighbor in rotor-specific setting
and could thus be identified.
•
Message keys were written twice successively at the beginning.
•
Message keys were stereotypical.
•
Many messages began with the same 'ANX' and contained other stereo-
typical parts (HEILHITLER).
•
Sometimes plaintext was included: 'Gartenpflege' (mining certain areas by
the British air force — message sent by German observers).
•
Basic keys sometimes became available by military conquests.
•
Weather reports were transmitted by using 3-rotor Enigmas only.
•
The
same
message
was
encrypted
with
two
different
methods —
mainly in 'Gartenpflege'.
•
The Enigma was deemed to be totally secure until the end of the war —
almost the entire secret radio communications were based on it: there was
sufficient material for analysis!
Figure 2.6:
Vulnerabilities for cryptanalyzing the Enigma.
When hearing the words 'Bletchley Park' every insider will think of the
greatest cryptanalytic action in history until then. In Great Britain, the
project was called 'Ultra', which refers both to the effort and the secrecy.
Perhaps some high-ranking cryptologists in Germany had a hunch that
their wonder machine had been broken. But who would have admitted
it in times like those? So they preferred to limit themselves to gradual
improvements that always came a bit too late.
It can be assumed that the current state of computer technology came
about thanks to the analysis of the Enigma, at least to some extent. In
any event, its code breakers had a major impact on the course of the war
and were able to prevent many of the feared submarine attacks. Let's
leave a more exact evaluation up to the historians.
Later developments of the 'bombs' worked even faster and were auto-
mated to a higher degree. But actually what for? We will learn the answer
in the next section.
