This
page provides news, articles and links about
historical ciphers and codes, cipher machines,
and cryptography related exhibits and events,
from the ancient history over the First and
Second World War to the Cold War and beyond.
If you
have interesting news on cryptologic
history, then contact
us. History is
here to share!
THE CODEBREAKERS
INTERNATIONAL ONLINE CONTEST 10 Oct 2024 by
Dirk
Great news for those who love
cryptologic challenges! The new edition of the
CODEBREAKERS is online. The contest is dedicated
to Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rózycki, and Henryk
Zygalski, the three Polish codebreakers who were
in 1932 the first to break the encryption of de
German Enigma cipher machine.
The contest website features
lectures where you can learn more about the
history of cryptography, different codes, and of
course the tasks and codes. There are three
levels, each with its own starting date, and the
website is now available in nine languages.
You can already register and
play the single-players trial level, and to
participate in the contest, you register a team
in the levels you want solve, and you can invite
two more players for a three-person team. Each
level consists of several stages, each with
lectures and tasks to solve. The BASIC level game
with tasks in English will start soon.
Make sure to be prepared and
registered in time for the start of the
competition:
TRIAL
Currently open!
BASIC 21
October
ADVENTURE
15 November
ENIGMA 29
November
Visit theCODEBREAKERS website
for more information and follow their Facebook page to catch
the latest news. You can also promote their
website and contest by sharing their
poster and flyer. See also the Codebreakers introduction
video below.
ENIGMA MACHINE IN
MECCANO 02 Oct 2024 by Dirk
Software
developer Craig Longhurst has always had a keen
interest in all things technical. In 2002 he got
the idea of building a working Enigma, the
well-known German cipher machine of which various
civil and military versions were produced from
1923 throughout the Second World War.
Craig decided to build the
famous Enigma I but designing the rotors with
their internal wiring and contacts proved
complex. Over the years, he learned laser cutting
for the rotor contact holes and later 3D printing
for the discs. These were only a few of the many
obstacles that required quite a bit of work and
imagination, not only to construct the electrical
parts, but also various mechanical components,
all made with Meccano parts.
Although he considered the
rotors the most difficult part, it would be quite
an understatement to call the Meccano
construction of the Enigma, the keyboard with
numerous switches, the contacts and lamp panel
"easy". The result of his creativity
was a fully working Meccano Enigma I in 2024.
Craig's Enigma is published in
the Constructor
Quarterly issue No 145 and if
you're interested in Enigma and Meccano, you're
in for a real treat. The issue has 16 pages on
his Enigma, with 26 excellent highly detailed
photos from all parts, accompanied by information
about the development and construction. Available
as back issue, sent all over the world. In the
video you get an idea of how complex Craig's
project was, and why it took 22 years to complete
his award-winning Enigma.
Note that the video shows Craig's
early version. He later added the plugboard to
his Enigma.
DECODING THE LETTERS OF
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS 29 Sep 2024 by
Dirk
When
George Lasry, Norbert Biermann and Satoshi
Tomokiyo started deciphering more than fifty
letters they found in the Bibliothèque Nationale
de France, they unexpectedly discovered that
these were letters presumed lost, written by the
imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587,
painting circa 1559).
In 1567, Mary Stuart was forced
to abdicate, and imprisoned in the Scottish
Lochleven castle, but escaped the next year to
England. Since Mary had a claim to the English
throne, she was a threat to her cousin, Queen
Elizabeth I, who kept her captive in England.
Still, Mary remained involved in plots to take
the throne.
In 1586, Anthony Babington, the
leader of a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth,
established a secret communications channel for
Mary Stuart. However, Sir Francis Walsingham,
secretary and spymaster of Elizabeth, had placed
several spies in Mary's circle, compromising the
Babington plot. When Mary did not object to the
assassination of Elizabeth in a letter to
Babington, she sealed her fate. Her conspirators
were executed in September 1586 and Mary Stuart,
44 years old, followed on 8 February 1587.
Mary was known to correspond
with here allies though encrypted letters, but
many of those were believed to have been lost.
Most of the recently discovered letters were
addressed to Michel de Castelnau, the French
ambassador to Londen. Although they are 445 years
old, deciphering them still proved to be a
complex task for the codebreakers. The team later
found plaintext versions of some of those letters
in the British Archives, leaked to Walsingham by
a mole in the French embassy. These confirmed the
correct deciphering of some messages from the
Bibliothèque Nationale de France.
A fascinating story of deceit
and treason, uncovered by the three talented
codebreakers in 2023. Their codebreaking
achievement is published in detail on Cryptologia. On the Cryptiana website
are the ciphers of Mary, Queen of Scots, the
discovery and codebreaking of 50+ letters, and
simulated paper-and-pencil codebreaking of a
ciphered letter. See also the DECRYPT project.
Below the excellent talk by
George Lasry, explaining in detail how they
deciphered the messages, and to understand the
animosities between Mary and Elizabeth, watch the
BBC documentary.