[3616] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Re: [aaa-list] Tommy Flowers,
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Sandy Harris)
Tue Nov 10 23:50:19 1998
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1998 19:56:14 -0500
From: Sandy Harris <sandy.harris@sympatico.ca>
To: BlueFlux <blueflux@EliteHackers.org>
CC: aaa-list@lists.netlink.co.uk, DC-Stuff <dc-stuff@dis.org>,
cryptography@c2.net
[This message contradicts Jim's message, which I tend to give more
credence to. Anyone care to settle the point? --Perry]
BlueFlux wrote:
> If this refers to the ENIGMA codes used by the germans, im curious.
> According to my material, it was a swedish mathematician who was first to
> break the ENIGMA ciphers.
The original Enigma was a commercial product released in the 1920's. The
German military adopted it later. By wartime, their navy had its own
stronger version. I think the Army & Luftwaffe used the same version &
that it was different from the commercial version, but I'm not certain.
Polish mathematicians came up with a break for at least one version in
the early 30's.
> So, does this article refer to the ENIGMA ciphers or some other cipher?
Enigma. At the outbreak of war, the Poles got what they had to the British
& French. Bletchley Park became the center of Allied code-breaking. Enigma
was a major target, though they also worked on other ciphers.
They built two generations of cracking engine specifically for Enigma.
Flowers was the main designer of Collosus, the second one.
--
Sandy Harris sandy.harris@sympatico.ca
Help secure the Internet: http://www.cygnus.com/~gnu/swan.html
