[Cryptography] BP in the media again

Ray Dillinger bear at sonic.net
Sun Oct 9 16:01:17 EDT 2016



On 10/08/2016 04:55 PM, Dave Horsfall wrote:
> Found in today's Sydney Sun-Herald, it led me over here:
> 
> http://www.traveller.com.au/cracking-the-code--a-visit-to-world-war-iis-enigmabreaking-bletchley-park-grul97
> 
> Nice summary, from a writer whose mother worked there.
> 


I love reading about the old-style cipher machines and the
institutions that surrounded them (and surrounded breaking
them).

They do have one crucial feature that modern systems do not;
inspectability.  They are made of electromechanical components
none of which is too small to see, all of which are simple
enough to inspect and replace.  When you're operating a SIGABA,
you needn't worry about whether someone has subverted the
device on a chip level, because no chips.  I think it is
possible to design and build an operable machine that would
resist modern cryptanalysis, too.

Alas, they are not applicable to most modern problems.  If you
tried to operate one fast enough to handle net traffic, it would
explode.

Oddly enough, the only thing they'd really work for would be
text correspondence, such as we're doing right now. It is,
just barely, possible to imagine an application in diplomatic
correspondence or the no-computers secure areas in the
modern world, but I think you'd go broke trying to market
them.  Hagelin poisoned that ground.

				Bear

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