CryptologiaPub Date : 2023-10-19DOI: 10.1080/01611194.2023.2267562
John F. Dooley
{"title":"Review of <i>The Puzzle Master</i> by Danielle TrussoniTrussoni, Danielle. 2023. <i>The Puzzle Master</i> . New York, NY: Random House. https://www.randomhousebooks.com/. 362 pages, ISBN 978-0-593-59529-9. $22.95","authors":"John F. Dooley","doi":"10.1080/01611194.2023.2267562","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01611194.2023.2267562","url":null,"abstract":"\"Review of The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni.\" Cryptologia, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–2 Notes1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sefirot; see also http://www.maqom.com/journal/paper14.pdf for a fuller discussion of the Sefirot3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_ben_Abraham_Gikatilla4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_AbulafiaAdditional informationNotes on contributorsJohn F. DooleyJohn F. Dooley is the William and Marilyn Ingersoll Professor Emeritus of Computer Science at Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. His research interests are in the history of cryptology, computer security, cryptology in fiction, software development in small groups, and computer science education. His latest book is The Gambler and the Scholars: Herbert Yardley, William & Elizebeth Friedman, and the Birth of Modern American Cryptology published by Springer.","PeriodicalId":55202,"journal":{"name":"Cryptologia","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135730877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
CryptologiaPub Date : 2023-10-19DOI: 10.1080/01611194.2023.2261121
Jean-Charles Foucrier
{"title":"Why the French military cryptanalysis failed to break Enigma","authors":"Jean-Charles Foucrier","doi":"10.1080/01611194.2023.2261121","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01611194.2023.2261121","url":null,"abstract":"AbstractIn July 1939, when the French military discovered the possibility of breaking Enigma thanks to revelations from the Polish Cipher Service, it came as a complete surprise. Although the French secret services had known about the German machine for almost ten years, the military cryptologists based in Paris had quickly concluded that it was impossible to break it. Only the forced exile of Polish mathematicians in France after the 1939 campaign enabled the French to decipher Enigma from January 1940 until the June defeat. While the story of the Polish and British cryptological successes is now well known through academic and mainstream literature, the French failure has received virtually no attention until now. Using unpublished archives held at the Defense Historical Service in Vincennes, this study analyzes the reasons for this fiasco and paints a picture of French military cryptanalysis in the 1930s, quite different from the past success of French codebreakers in the First World War.Keywords: EnigmaFrench cryptanalysisWorld War II Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 De Lastours (Citation1998, 212).2 Kahn (Citation1996), Ollier (2004), Forcade (Citation2008).3 Some very short indications are given by Widman & Wik (Citation2021, 31), Canuel (Citation2013) and Faligot (Citation2001).4 Ribadeau-Dumas (Citation1975, 24).5 Service Historique de la Défense [Defense Historical Service – DHS], Vincennes, France.6 DHS, 1937, Feuille de renseignements concernant le Capitaine Braquenié (DHS).7 DHS, 1913, Relevé de notes (DHS).8 DHS, 1912, Feuillet individuel de campagne (DHS).9 DHS, no date, Relevé des notes (DHS).10 DHS, 1930, Feuillet individuel de campagne (DHS).11 Bertrand (DHS, 10).12 Bertrand (DHS, 147).13 DHS, 1936, Feuillet du personnel (DHS).14 Forcade (Citation2008, 179–180).15 Paillole (Citation2013, 130–140).16 Durand-Richard and Guillot (Citation2014, 160).17 Ribadeau-Dumas (Citation1975, 26–27).18 Rivet (Citation2010, 99).19 DHS, 1932, Résumé des notes antérieures à l’année 1932 (DHS).20 DHS, 1932, Feuillet du personnel (DHS).21 DHS, 1931, Feuillet individuel de campagne (DHS).22 DHS, 1933, Feuillet individuel de campagne (DHS).23 DHS, 1936, Feuillet individuel de campagne (DHS).24 DHS, 1921, Diplôme d’ingénieur des Travaux publics (DHS).25 DHS, 1937, Feuille de renseignements concernant le capitaine Henri Braquenié (DHS).26 DHS, 1937, Copie des notes inscrites au feuillet du personnel du capitaine de réserve Braquenié (DHS).27 DHS, 1936, Relevé des notes du capitaine Braquenié Henri (DHS).28 Kozaczuk (Citation1989, 328).29 DHS, 1938, Bulletin individuel de notes (DHS).30 Bertrand (DHS, 151).31 DHS, 1938, Bulletin de décès (DHS).32 Rivet (Citation2010, 198).33 DHS, no date, Fiche biographique du général de brigade Joubert des Ouches (DHS).34 DHS, 1935, Relevé des notes (DHS).35 DHS, no date, Fiche biographique du général de brigade Joubert des Ouches (DHS).36 DHS, 1909, Feuille de n","PeriodicalId":55202,"journal":{"name":"Cryptologia","volume":"191 2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135729855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
CryptologiaPub Date : 2023-10-14DOI: 10.1080/01611194.2023.2248141
Chris Christensen
{"title":"Review of <i>Queen of Codes: The Secret Life of Emily Anderson, Britain’s Greatest Female Codebreaker</i> by Jackie Uí ChionnaChionna, Jackie Uí. <i>Queen of Codes: The Secret Life of Emily Anderson, Britain’s Greatest Female Codebreaker</i> . Headline Publishing Group, London, 2023. 418 pages, Hardcover, £25.00. ISBN978-1-4722-9547-7.","authors":"Chris Christensen","doi":"10.1080/01611194.2023.2248141","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01611194.2023.2248141","url":null,"abstract":"Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes1 Chionna comments on page 61 that Hay, who was passed over (in favor of Alastair Denniston) to be the head of the Government Code and Cypher School after the war, destroyed most of the records of MI1(b). She calls Hay’s decision “at best vindictive and at worst an act of archival vandalism of the most reprehensible kind.” Chionna notes that an album called “The Cork Street Book” that was compiled after the war by Hay’s staff as a memento and is now held at the University of Aberdeen is a resource for the history of MI1(b). (57)Additional informationNotes on contributorsChris ChristensenChris Christensen teaches cryptology and mathematics at Northern Kentucky University. One of his cryptologic interests is World War II Japanese ciphers.","PeriodicalId":55202,"journal":{"name":"Cryptologia","volume":"87 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135804157","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
CryptologiaPub Date : 2023-10-11DOI: 10.1080/01611194.2023.2259376
Thomas Larsen
{"title":"Leo Marks’ “mental one-time pad”: an experimental cipher for British special operations in World War II","authors":"Thomas Larsen","doi":"10.1080/01611194.2023.2259376","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01611194.2023.2259376","url":null,"abstract":"AbstractDuring World War II, Leo Marks designed ciphers for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE). Tasked with ensuring that SOE undercover agents could encrypt radio transmissions from Nazi-occupied Europe to British headquarters, Marks introduced one-time pad ciphers with random keys printed on materials like paper and silk. However, carrying such materials was risky for agents. In an attempt to mitigate this risk, Marks experimented with a system he called the “Mental One-Time Pad” (MOP) cipher. Contrary to its name, the MOP cipher was not a genuine one-time pad system, but rather used double columnar transposition with memorized texts to create unique substitution keys. In this article, we’ll explore the design, vulnerabilities, and historical significance of the MOP cipher, and discuss potential improvements from US Army cryptographer William Friedman.Keywords: Leo Marksmental one-time pad (MOP)transposition-substitution ciphersWilliam FriedmanWorld War II ciphers Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Additional informationNotes on contributorsThomas LarsenThomas Larsen is an Australian data scientist in the commercial sector as well as in critical care research at the University of Melbourne and Monash University. He specializes in accurate and interpretable (A+I) machine learning techniques including symbolic regression.","PeriodicalId":55202,"journal":{"name":"Cryptologia","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136210928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
CryptologiaPub Date : 2023-10-11DOI: 10.1080/01611194.2023.2246470
Chris Christensen
{"title":"Review of <i>The First Enigma Codebreaker: The Untold Story of Marian Rejewski Who Passed the Baton to Alan Turing</i> Gawłowski, Robert. <i>The First Enigma Codebreaker: The Untold Story of Marian Rejewski Who Passed the Baton to Alan Turing</i> , Yorkshire, England: Pen and Sword Books. 2023. 186 + ix pages, Hardcover, £20.00. ISBN 9781399069106.","authors":"Chris Christensen","doi":"10.1080/01611194.2023.2246470","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01611194.2023.2246470","url":null,"abstract":"Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes1 Wyższa Szkoła Bankowa: “banking college.”2 A particularly striking translation occurs on page 161 where Rejewski is described as having had an “epileptic fit.”3 Stefan Mazurkiewicz (1888–1945) was a well-known Polish mathematician. Along with two other well-known Polish mathematicians, Warcław Sierpiński and Stanisław Leśniewski, he served as a codebreaker for the Polish Cipher Bureau during the Polish-Soviet War (1919–1921).4 Bertrand (1896–1976) was a French intelligence officer. He obtained Enigma documents from Hans-Thilo Schmidt, an employee of the German cipher bureau, and he passed those documents to the Polish Cipher Bureau. Those documents played a critical role in Rejewski’s determining of the wiring of the Enigma rotors. Bertrand assisted the Polish codebreakers during their time in France.5 Langer (1894–1948) was chief of the Polish Cipher Bureau.6 The Knowlton Award mentioned on pages 167 and 168 is not, as stated, an award given by the National Security Agency, but it is an award given by the Military Intelligence Corps Association. However, Rejewski (along with Alan Turing) was inducted into the NSA Cryptologic Hall of Honor in 2014.Additional informationNotes on contributorsChris ChristensenChris Christensen teaches cryptology and mathematics at Northern Kentucky University. He had the privilege to have been a participant in the 2014 ceremony in Warsaw at which the work of the three Polish codebreakers was honored by the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers with the awarding of a Milestone Award.","PeriodicalId":55202,"journal":{"name":"Cryptologia","volume":"49 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136209419","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
CryptologiaPub Date : 2023-09-28DOI: 10.1080/01611194.2023.2257696
Elonka Dunin, Klaus Schmeh
{"title":"Review of the second edition of Craig Bauer’s “ <i>Secret History: The Story of Cryptology, Second Edition</i> ”Bauer, Craig P. <i>Secret History: The Story of Cryptology. Second Edition</i> . CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 2021. 650 pages, Hardcover. ISBN 978-1138061231.","authors":"Elonka Dunin, Klaus Schmeh","doi":"10.1080/01611194.2023.2257696","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01611194.2023.2257696","url":null,"abstract":"Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)Additional informationNotes on contributorsElonka DuninElonka Dunin has co-authored the book Codebreaking: A Practical Guide (U.S. version published in 2023) together with Klaus Schmeh. She is considered an authority on classical ciphers, and is co-founder and co-leader of a group of cryptographers who are working hard to crack the final cipher on the famous Kryptos sculpture at CIA Headquarters. She maintains a list of the World’s most famous unsolved codes on her elonka.com site, and also published The Mammoth Book of Secret Codes and Cryptograms. Bestselling author Dan Brown named one of the characters in his The Da Vinci Code sequel, The Lost Symbol, after her. “Nola Kaye” is an anagrammed form of “Elonka.” She was a member of the Board of Directors for the National Cryptologic Foundation from 2012 to 2022, and is a lifetime member of the International Game Developers Association. Currently living in the Washington, D.C. area, she works as a management consultant. As a public speaker, Elonka regularly gives talks on her favorite subjects: Games, Wikipedia, cryptography, medieval history, Agile development, and geocaching.Klaus SchmehKlaus Schmeh has co-authored the book Codebreaking: A Practical Guide (U.S. version published in 2023) together with Elonka Dunin. He has written 15 other books (mainly in German) about cryptology, as well as over 250 articles, 25 scientific articles, and 1,500 blog posts, which probably makes him the most-published cryptology author in the world. He is also a member of the editorial board of Cryptologia. Klaus’s main fields of interest are codebreaking and the history of encryption. Klaus is a popular speaker, known for his entertaining presentation style involving self-drawn cartoons and Lego models. He has lectured at hundreds of conferences, including the NSA Cryptologic History Symposium, HistoCrypt, the Charlotte International Cryptologic Symposium, and the RSA Conference in San Francisco. In his day job, Klaus works for the Digital Identity branch of the French company, Eviden.","PeriodicalId":55202,"journal":{"name":"Cryptologia","volume":"2021 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135425241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
CryptologiaPub Date : 2023-08-24DOI: 10.1080/01611194.2023.2246460
Chris Christensen
{"title":"Review of The Bletchley Park Codebreakers in their own words by Joel Greenberg","authors":"Chris Christensen","doi":"10.1080/01611194.2023.2246460","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01611194.2023.2246460","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55202,"journal":{"name":"Cryptologia","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43297126","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
CryptologiaPub Date : 2023-08-21DOI: 10.1080/01611194.2023.2246466
Chris Christensen
{"title":"Review of No More Secrets: My Part in Codebreaking at Bletchley Park and the Pentagon by Betty Webb","authors":"Chris Christensen","doi":"10.1080/01611194.2023.2246466","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01611194.2023.2246466","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":55202,"journal":{"name":"Cryptologia","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41994528","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
CryptologiaPub Date : 2023-08-06DOI: 10.1080/01611194.2023.2223562
Wa-shing. Chan
{"title":"Breaking the Silk Dress cryptogram","authors":"Wa-shing. Chan","doi":"10.1080/01611194.2023.2223562","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/01611194.2023.2223562","url":null,"abstract":"A solution to the “Silk Dress cryptogram” is presented. The cryptogram was found to be a telegraphic code used for transmitting weather observations by the U.S. Army Signal Service (Signal Corps) and later by the U","PeriodicalId":55202,"journal":{"name":"Cryptologia","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2023-08-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47409277","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}