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Code and ciphers: Julius Caesar, the Enigma and the internet

Code and ciphers: Julius Caesar, the Enigma and the internet

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128<br />

chapter 9<br />

Ironically, if <strong>the</strong> cipher operators chose <strong>the</strong>ir indicators in a non-r<strong>and</strong>om<br />

manner, such as choosing all three letters from <strong>the</strong> same row of <strong>the</strong> keyboard,<br />

even more messages would be needed to get a full set of chains<br />

(M17). On <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r h<strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> probability of finding two or more messages<br />

‘in depth’ would be increased <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> cryptanalysts might <strong>the</strong>n be<br />

able to recover some plaintext, which might lead to <strong>the</strong> solution by a different<br />

route. Any kind of non-r<strong>and</strong>om feature in a cipher system or in its<br />

operational procedure might help <strong>the</strong> cryptanalysts.<br />

Aligning <strong>the</strong> chains<br />

The analysis that shows that chains of equal length occur in pairs also<br />

shows how to exploit this fact to discover <strong>the</strong> identity <strong>and</strong> setting of R1.<br />

To do this we must align pairs of chains of <strong>the</strong> same length, but one of <strong>the</strong><br />

chains of such a pair must be reversed. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore, we must try each possible<br />

alignment of <strong>the</strong> letters. Thus, for <strong>the</strong> two 10-letter chains above we can<br />

have 20 possible alignments, depending upon which chain we reverse<br />

<strong>and</strong> which letter comes first, viz:<br />

ABQNUMLPIR<br />

CHGYVTJSKD<br />

is one possible alignment, but <strong>the</strong>re are 19 o<strong>the</strong>rs, for example<br />

CDKSJTVYGH<br />

IPLMUNQBAR<br />

When we have <strong>the</strong> correct alignment of two related chains <strong>the</strong> vertical<br />

pairs of letters when encrypted through <strong>the</strong> correct R1 at its first setting<br />

will reveal pairs in <strong>the</strong> composite reflector whilst <strong>the</strong> NW–SE diagonal<br />

pairs when encrypted at <strong>the</strong> second setting of R1 will also reveal <strong>the</strong> same<br />

pairs. An incorrect wheel or incorrect settings will produce contradictions.<br />

This crucially important fact, a consequence of <strong>the</strong> operating procedure<br />

employed on <strong>the</strong> <strong>Enigma</strong>, was discovered by <strong>the</strong> Polish cryptanalysts<br />

in 1932; a proof is given in [9.1]. In this example we have some short<br />

chains <strong>and</strong> since <strong>the</strong>re are fewer possibilities of alignment <strong>the</strong>se would<br />

probably be tried first.<br />

Identifying R1 <strong>and</strong> its setting<br />

An example of <strong>the</strong> identification of R1 <strong>and</strong> its setting on a full size<br />

<strong>Enigma</strong> with known wheels but unknown plugboard would require a

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