'Bombe' Replica Code-Breaking WW2 Computer Was Used To Decipher Message Scrambled By An Enigma Machine (bbc.com) 37
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Computer historians have staged a re-enactment of World War Two code-cracking at Bletchley Park. A replica code-breaking computer called a Bombe was used to decipher a message scrambled by an Enigma machine. Held at the National Museum of Computing (TNMOC), the event honored Polish help with wartime code-cracking. Enigma machines were used extensively by the German army and navy during World War Two. This prompted a massive effort by the Allies to crack the complex method they employed to scramble messages. That effort was co-ordinated via Bletchley Park and resulted in the creation of the Bombe, said Paul Kellar who helps to keep a replica machine running at the museum. Renowned mathematician Alan Turing was instrumental in the creation of the original Bombe.
For its re-enactment, TNMOC recruited a team of 12 and used a replica Bombe that, until recently, had been on display at the Bletchley Park museum next door. The electro-mechanical Bombe was designed to discover which settings the German Enigma operators used to scramble their messages. As with World War Two messages, the TNMOC team began with a hint or educated guess about the content of the message, known as a "crib," which was used to set up the Bombe. The machine then cranked through the millions of possible combinations until it came to a "good stop," said Mr Kellar. This indicated that the Bombe had found key portions of the settings used to turn readable German into gobbledygook. After that, said Mr Kellar, it was just a matter of time before the 12-strong team cracked the message.
For its re-enactment, TNMOC recruited a team of 12 and used a replica Bombe that, until recently, had been on display at the Bletchley Park museum next door. The electro-mechanical Bombe was designed to discover which settings the German Enigma operators used to scramble their messages. As with World War Two messages, the TNMOC team began with a hint or educated guess about the content of the message, known as a "crib," which was used to set up the Bombe. The machine then cranked through the millions of possible combinations until it came to a "good stop," said Mr Kellar. This indicated that the Bombe had found key portions of the settings used to turn readable German into gobbledygook. After that, said Mr Kellar, it was just a matter of time before the 12-strong team cracked the message.
funny story (Score:5, Interesting)
During WW2, the Ministry of Defence searched everywhere for cryptogramists (experts in code breaking), but accidentally hired a cryptogamist (expert in algae and other spore-distributing plants), Geoffrey Tandy, whose expertise turned out to be useful in restoring a water logged codebook.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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If you're interested in stories related to codebreaking, Code Girls [amazon.com] is a pretty entertaining and informative read. I've read lots of war-related accounts and biographies, but this one had a different flavor, being about war-related work on the homefront, and about codebreaking women, who were not given much if any credit for the work they did in this or other fields during the war.
Cosmology vs Cosmetology (Score:3)
For added authenticity (Score:3, Insightful)
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At the end of the day, one of the team members who was a homosexual was given a cyanide pill.
At the end of the day, one of team members who was gay and forced to undergo "treatment" took a cyanide pill.
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How about they were forced too use the name of the exercise in US customs and then immediately spent an extended period of time in a holding facility where they get to spend special time customs and hoses and insertions or what ever the crazy fuck they get into.
Using the word bombe no matter how you spell it is a bad idea. Like would it be a criminal offence to ring up the military and warn them there is a bomb on that large attack carrier floating in their harbour. I mean there are a whole bunch of bombs
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During WW2, homosexuality seems to have been mostly ignored. Turing's arrest and conviction wasn't until 1952, and had nothing to do with his life at Bletchley. So why dredge this up every time there's a story about Bletchley Park?
Re: For added authenticity (Score:2)
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By that reasoning, you'd have to bring up mistreatment of gay people in just about every story that is about human history of up until a few decades ago. Why the selective outrage in Bletchley Park stories?
Re: For added authenticity (Score:1)
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He probably was never forced to do this. The two prevailing theories are either suicide or accidental poisoning. An early biographer strongly suggested suicide, but there were others not necessarily prone to apologizing for the government who pointed to evidence suggesting an accident. We probably won't know for sure, but forced poisoning or encouraging he poison himself is a bit of a stretch.
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I haven't brought it up before. I thought the absurd scenario I described would draw a chuckle from satirizing old-timey thinking.
You know, comedy.
Poland Developed the Bombe (Score:2, Informative)
The Bombe was originally built by Polish crypt analysts using data given to them by the French. It was able to get the daily key used by the enigma machine, of the time, fairly quickly. When Poland was in danger of falling to the invading Nazi forces they sent a bombe and the results of their work to France and England. I assume they then destroyed any evidence of their accomplishment before the Nazis arrived. England, in the form of Alan Turing et al, then used this accomplishment to eventually develop a n
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What data? My reading says the bombe was a strictly Polish design with no input from French or Brits.
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If I recall correctly, there were several phases in the bombe design. The original Polish codebreaking efforts, including their bombe, relied on some principles that turned out in the long run to be fragile and unsustainable. That was where Turing came in. He redesigned a British bombe on more general principles, and as such, was able to continue breaking messages when the Polish method stopped working due to changes in the encryption systems.
The Polish definitely got the ball rolling, but Turing made ma
Re:Poland Developed the Bombe (Score:4, Informative)
using data given to them by the French
AIU it was the other way round. The Polish team developed the codebreaking method using their own resources (notably, they were able to reconstruct the rotor wiring just by analyzing coded messages). They approached the French because they wanted to share their knowledge before the country was overrun. Also, changes made by the Germans meant the problem had become more complex and vastly more machines and personnel were needed to break the new codes with any regularity - resources the Polish cypher bureau didn't have.
Bombes in Washington (Score:5, Informative)
What is seldom mentioned is that the British sent the design for the Bombe to the US where hundreds were built and did the bulk of the decrypting work. This is nicely presented at the NSA museum at Ft. Meade, which also has several Enigma machines, including a pre-war commercial version, and a section of a Bombe on display.
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I recently saw a documentary that referred to this as an early version of cloud computing: Bletchley Park sent intercepted messages and menus (Bombe settings) to the US via telegraph cables, where they were run and the results returned.
Amazing place (Score:3)
It's quite remarkable these people were able to build a working replica, when all Bombes were destroyed after WW2 and its design kept secret. All they had to go on was people's recollections and the odd bit smuggled out here and there.
And then they went and did the same for the Colossus.
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A lot of the information was classified until the 1990s. Many of the people involved never got the credit they deserved.
Some of it was declassified later, like very careful statistical analysis that suggested the most likely rotors in use.
sorry (Score:2)
It was easy 70 years ago because there was always a 'Heil Hitler' at the end of each message, so it must be much easier today.
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I realize you're trying to be funny, but you are also wrong; there was no 'Heil Hitler' at the end of each message. I would encourage you, however, to read up on "cillies," "nothing to report," weather station messages, "gardening," and other crib-based decryptions.
Polish cryptologists (Rejewski) broke enigma first (Score:1)