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Saturday, September 17, 2011

Enigma for Sale

Don't tell Dave! It's an attractive item to enthusiasts of early science, mathematics, history and computing instruments.  "If the receiving Enigma was attuned to the same settings -- one of a possible 158 million million million combinations -- the encrypted message would then be automatically decoded."
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8 comments:

  1. UCO PresidentSeptember 17, 2011 at 12:18 PM

    Hi all,
    If you are unable to pick this exquisite device up at the Christies auction, there is a fine Enigma simulator online at the following site:

    http://enigmaco.de/enigma/enigma.html

    If you and a correspondent by Email would like to encrypt and decrypt your messages using this device, simply agree on a list of indicators so that both ends have their wheel settings the same, and you may then exchange encrypted traffic.

    As long as the initial settings are not compromised, no casual interceptor will read your traffic.

    There are of course certain organizations who may have better luck.

    Enjoy,

    Dave Israel

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lanny HoweSeptember 17, 2011 at 6:49 PM

    R qfhg ivzw gsv Hvxfirgb Nvvgrmt rmulinzgrlm ulidziw rmrgrzgrev. Nzbyv ru lfi gizuurx hrtmh dviv dirggvm rm xlwv, kvlkov dlfow kzb nliv zggvmgrlm gl gsvn.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The NutmeggerSeptember 18, 2011 at 8:28 PM

    Very funny: Decode this: ebt oyu ntca dear hist ouy yudmm!

    The Nutmegger

    ReplyDelete
  4. KenSeptember 18, 2011 at 9:35 PM

    hey
    bet you can;t read this you dummy

    ReplyDelete
  5. UCO PresidentSeptember 18, 2011 at 11:19 PM

    Hi all,

    Without the initial wheel settings, decoding the cipher is very difficult.

    Dave Israel

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lanny HoweSeptember 19, 2011 at 8:44 AM

    Come now. My code is VERY easy to crack! Even dummies--you know, BACKWARD people--can break it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. UCO PresidentSeptember 20, 2011 at 10:37 PM

    Hi Lanny,
    September 17, 2011 6:49 PM,

    Your comment is written in a variant of the Caesar Cipher, in the words of Suetonius:

    "If he had anything confidential to say, he wrote it in cipher, that is, by so changing the order of the letters of the alphabet, that not a word could be made out. If anyone wishes to decipher these, and get at their meaning, he must substitute the fourth letter of the alphabet, namely D, for A, and so with the others."

    —Suetonius, Life of Julius Caesar 56

    In your case of course, you have slid the cipher alphabet so as to align Z with A, Y with B and so forth.

    Thus a partial decrypt:

    I just read the security meeting information forward initiative. Maybe if our traffic.....Etc.

    Dave Israel

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lanny HoweSeptember 21, 2011 at 8:46 AM

    Very good, Dave! I didn't know about the illustrious background to my code.

    ReplyDelete

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