Hum Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 (CNN) -- An encoding device synonymous with one of the most remarkable episodes of World War II espionage will go under the hammer in London later this month. A version of the three rotor Enigma machine -- used by the German military to encrypt messages, the code of which was subsequently cracked by a team at the legendary Bletchley Park complex -- will be auctioned at Christie's on September 29. Although the number of the ciphering machines still in existence is thought to remain in the thousands, "it is rare for one to come up for sale," says Christie's specialist, James Hyslop. "Many are believed to have been produced but it's not a particularly high survival," he adds. During the wartime period, the Enigma machine was the most advanced device of its kind, a forerunner of the first modern computer systems. Originally produced by a Dutch company for commercial use in the aftermath of the First World War, the technology was snapped up for sole use by the German military in 1929. Employing a complex series of interchangeable rotors, the machine would encode messages before sending them via Morse code to an identical device in another location. 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. The mindboggling numbers involved led the Germans to believe that it was "impossible to crack" the Enigma, Hyslop explains, hence its importance to the Nazi war machine. Unbeknown to Hitler's charges however, a group of code breakers based at Bletchley Park in the English countryside had devised a way to do just that. Led by the English mathematician Alan Turing, this small army of cryptologists, linguists, scientists and data analysts managed to create a system that at its peak was breaking as many as 6,000 encrypted German Enigma messages every day. Greenish claims the role played by the Enigma in determining the outcome of WWII alone is enough to guarantee its status as a relic of great historical importance. Its technological complexity also makes it an attractive item to collectors of "early science, mathematics, history and computing instruments," he says. more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
articuno1au Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 It was the Poles (Polish people) who worked out how to crack the code, however they didn't have access to the resources required to actually do it in full. They were able (for a time) to read enigma messages by mathematical attack and solve, however the Germans introduced a new rotor system and thus the Poles were unable to continue their work due to the complexity of the new system. They passed their work on to another countries secret service (I forget which, although I believe it was France) who didn't realise it's incredible value, who by agreement with the English SIS shared all of their intelligence with England. Thus it was that their work was built upon by mathematicians at Bletchley was used to find a weakness in the code. The worst part of the whole story is that Turing's incredible work was never publicly recognised. What's more, the original "Bombas" as the Poles called them were destroyed in order to stop other nations learning of their conquest of the Enigma system. There is a cool side note to all this, however: England gathered up as many of the Enigma machines as it could, and thus distributed them to governments all over the world, without ever acknowledging that they had found a weakness in the system. The result was, that for a decade or so, England's intelligence services could read a vast majority of the world's secret mail >.< All in all, the entire thing is amazing, and if ever you get a chance, there is a book well worth your time to read: The Code Book by Simon Singh. He talks about the progression of cryptography vs crypto-analysis throughout time. A really good read (if a little simplified at times). Especially good if you want to understand Internet Security (SSL/Diffie-Hellman-Merkle/Rivest-Shamir-Adleman/AES) and the foundations of all these things! And I'm done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted September 17, 2011 Author Share Posted September 17, 2011 Very clever minds all around -- both the creators and code crackers. :yes: Now if we could just work out a system of peace, so that we no longer need secrets ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P!P Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 I'm surprised something the important is going to auction. It belongs in a museum. England's Enigma decrypting program at Bletchley Park was almost as secret as the Manhattan Project. For a really good video on the Enigma machine, watch this clip from "World War 2 in Color". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyMwNAbKpBU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiagosilva29 Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 And I'm done.Not yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
articuno1au Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 I'm surprised something the important is going to auction. It belongs in a museum. England's Enigma decrypting program at Bletchley Park was almost as secret as the Manhattan Project. For a really good video on the Enigma machine, watch this clip from "World War 2 in Color". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyMwNAbKpBU It's not really important now days. You can brute force a secure enigma implementation in a matter of seconds. Also (please understand I'm not picking on you here, I just wanted to share this tidbit >.<), Bletchley Park's work was a million times more secret then the Manhatten Project. People involved in the project were forced for decades to remain silent about their work. Many went to their graves with the information, and could never tell friends/family et all of the live saving work they did. The US made documentaries and propaganda about the manhatten project after it was done. People working there were treated as heroes.. Alan Turing and many others were forced to never reveal the MASSIVELY life saving work they had done. They were forced to tell people they worked in the mail service (or whatever else) and be scorned by people who fought in the war for not "having been there" or showing "cowardice". Alan Turing was written to by his old school principal and berated for his failure to "act the part of a man" because he didn't fight as a soldier but rather "stayed home like a woman" :\ Turing was a homosexual. When the government discovered this, they convicted him of "Gross Indecency", stripped him of his security status and removed him from critical projects at Bletchley before disgracing him publicly. He was so badly shunned by his government and co-worked that he took his own life with cyanide. Worse, his sexual preference was discovered when he reported a theft to the police. The creator of the first programmable computer was belittled, berated and eventually forced to death. A true travesty that many people never know and will never know :\ It's truly attrocious how he was treated and such.. Yeah.. Like I said: I'm not attacking you or anything, I just wanted to share this >.< EDIT:: Just realised I kinda swerved a little off topic towards the end there >.> My bad :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoadorable Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 it is true that Bletchley Park isn't as well known as Los Alamos, for example. and isn't it like a museum now anyway? kinda weird for a place like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted September 17, 2011 Author Share Posted September 17, 2011 How did sex get into this ... Turing was a homosexual So we can conclude, the smartest people are gay. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
articuno1au Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 LOL. The smartest people are asexual :p Also, if I'm in the thread, sex is sure to follow ;) :p I just used Turing as an example as he was the "main man" of the group, and his treatment really highlights how most of the people involved were treated after the war.. Soldiers were treated as heroes, given parades and helped by their fellow men and women. People who didn't fight in the war or "help the effort" were considered poorly and generally snubbed. It kinda sucks that the people saving millions of lives were the ones that were snubbed. :\ Not yet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted September 17, 2011 Author Share Posted September 17, 2011 ^ I dunno ... I guess they didn't shower Einstein with a lot of attention either, for the atom bomb. :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P!P Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 It's not really important now days. You can brute force a secure enigma implementation in a matter of seconds. Also (please understand I'm not picking on you here, I just wanted to share this tidbit >.<), Bletchley Park's work was a million times more secret then the Manhatten Project. People involved in the project were forced for decades to remain silent about their work. Many went to their graves with the information, and could never tell friends/family et all of the live saving work they did. I meant it was important historically, not as an actual encryption device these days. Bletchley Park's story may have taken a lot longer to come out but I'd argue that during the war they were of about equal importance and secrecy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
articuno1au Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 Yeah, I knew what you meant, but somewhere between my brain and my fingers, what I was trying to say changed >.> My bad >.< Certainly of equal importance, both projects were critical. A 40 year cone of silence wins out against a documentary :p I just think if you spend your entire life not being able to talk about your life and countries crowning achievement of the century, you kinda win the secrecy medal. That said, I'm biased (so you are you Yank :p), I'm an Aussie, only slightly removed from a Brit :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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