[Cryptography] Imitation Game: Can Enigma/Tunney be Fixed?

[Ray Dillinger]

On 01/06/2015 11:45 AM, Philip Gladstone wrote:
> On 1/6/15 03:54, Ray Dillinger wrote:

>> The Enigma actually had two fatal weaknesses.  First, as you
>> correctly point out, the allies exploited the can't-map-to-
>> itself property to great effect; t was how the Bombes
>> eliminated possibilities in great quantities once they were
>> started.
>>
> My impression was that the steckerboard did not significantly help
> against cryptanalysis (contrary to what the Germans thought). The
> closures (or cycles) that were used to drive the bombes were independent
> of the steckering.

The steckerboard didn't fix the cant-map-to-itself problem, and the
allies were able to get so much mileage out of that limitation that
the steckerboard didn't matter much.  If that problem had been fixed,
the steckerboard would have added a lot more security than it
actually did.

				Bear



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