Questions tagged [enigma]
The Enigma Machine was a piece of cryptographic hardware used by the German military during World War II; successful cryptanalysis was routinely applied against it and the scheme was considered broken. Questions relating to this machine should use this tag and you may also which to use the historic tag.
14
questions
11
votes
2
answers
24k
views
How many possible Enigma machine settings?
I'm trying to calculate the amount of settings the enigma machine has. I have found several sites regarding this topic, but it seems like there are two answers to my question. The first answer is 158,...
- 213
30
votes
4
answers
23k
views
How cryptographically secure was the original WW2 Enigma machine, from a modern viewpoint?
If cryptanalysts today were to crack the original Enigma machine, “how fast” or “how easily” could they do it? What methods would they use?
The original cracking was significantly helped by operator ...
- 513
19
votes
4
answers
3k
views
Are encryption algorithms with fixed-point free permutations inherently flawed?
Flaw in Enigma
One of the Enigma machine's flaw was the derangement (fixed-point free permutation) of the produced ciphertext, or simply put: No plaintext-letter can be enciphered to itself. See this ...
- 6,406
6
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Why is this the inverse of a Enigma Machine rotor?
I am learning about how the Enigma Machine works and I found this example of one letter being encrypted by an Enigma Machine. It shows the letter "G" going through three rotors and then it goes into ...
- 163
9
votes
3
answers
11k
views
How does the ring settings of enigma change wiring tables?
EDIT: The model I'm trying to make is "Enigma 1". I learned initially about it from a book called "Code Book" and then looked at it in detail from its wikipedia page. The site wont allow me too add ...
- 111
0
votes
2
answers
661
views
How to calculate the key size of a redesign of Enigma
I have a 'for fun' project, which is a pure software based redesign of the Enigma I. I'd like to compute the key length of my design, but I need some help with that.
I have a write-up here (see ...
- 187
32
votes
8
answers
11k
views
Have any cryptographic breaks been executed in the real world since World War II?
Have there been any publicly known exploits of a cryptographic break in a widely used cryptographic system to actually read encrypted information (or falsely authenticate) since the Ultra program in ...
- 431
15
votes
1
answer
2k
views
How to build an electro-mechanical public key cipher machine?
It is generally assumed that asymmetric encryption schemes were invented in 1973 at GCHQ in Britain and, independently, in 1976 at the MIT.
Imagine, if the abstract idea of having a public key and a ...
- 201
7
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Is the logic for how the enigma machine worked documented somewhere?
I know that there is a formula to calculate the result of any input but is the logic of how the machine actually worked documented?
I have seen schematics for the circuitry and even a how to make ...
- 283
6
votes
2
answers
357
views
What were Alan Turing and their team searching before doing KPA in the movie "The imitation game"?
I just watched the movie "The imitation game" (2014) which is based on Alan Turing's biography.
At some point in the movie the machine built by Turing wasn't fast enough to decrypt the ...
- 163
6
votes
2
answers
2k
views
When does the first rotor in Enigma machine rotate?
I read a ton of articles about the Enigma machine. And the one thing that I can't get is when the first rotor stars rotating.
Some articles says the rotor rotates after the first letter of message ...
- 61
2
votes
3
answers
406
views
Enigma: a Question from WW2
I have seen in the Imitation Game that the Germans reset the Enigma at midnight sharp, and then they start messaging by sending the weather report in the morning.
But the device made by Alan Turing, ...
1
vote
1
answer
1k
views
Enigma rotation example
According to wikipedia: BDZGO is the expected outcome when doing the enigma chipher on the letters AAAAA with rotors I,II,III and reflector B.
...
- 247
0
votes
2
answers
212
views
Key vs Algorithm when applied to Enigma
I've just been reading the Why should I make my cipher public? question and answers on this site.
I understand Kerckhoffs's principle, but I'm unsure exactly how this applies to Enigma - i.e. where ...
- 187