Posted on 03/02/2006 11:14:12 AM PST by nickcarraway
An amateur cryptologist's internet project is using idling computers to help crack three Nazi codes that eluded the Enigma codebreakers of the Second World War.
Launched in January, the project has already broken one of the three messages, from a U-Boat commander forced to dive during an attack on November 25, 1942. The computers of 2,500 strangers are now whirring away, trying to decode the remaining two. You can volunteer your computer here.
Stefan Krah, a German-born cryptologist from Utrecht, in the Netherlands, started the network in January after writing a programme that combined the brute force of connected computers with a mathematical formula based on previous codebreaking work.
He offered the software to readers of two online bulletin boards with the words: "Clearly the project is from the 'Because we can' department. Is it realistic to hope that anywhere between 10-100 people would take part?"
Today Mr Krah said was amazed by "the exponential growth of participants".
"I was the only participant when it all started on January 9. About five people joined and participated regularly after I announced it on the lfs-chat mailing list," he wrote in an e-mail.
Together the computers are now marching through the 150 million million million permutations of each letter that made the Engima, which was used to direct devastating U-Boat attacks against Allied shipping in the Atlantic, the most feared encoding machine of the war.
So confident were Nazi commanders in the Engima that even when its messages were clearly being decoded by mathematicians at Bletchley Park, Britain's secret codebreaking base in Buckinghamshire, they refused to believe that the machine itself had been compromised, instead thinking spies were tipping off the Allies about the location of U-Boats in the Atlantic.
The first success of Mr Krah's "M4" project, named in honour of the final, upgraded Enigma that managed to perplex Alan Turing, the brilliant British logician credited with the breaking of the code, came on February 20.
From the scramble of 196 letters, passed 63 years ago through the Enigma's four decoding rotors, came the message:
"Forced to submerge during attack, depth charges. Last enemy location 08:30h, Marqu AJ 9863, 220 degrees, 8 nautical miles, (I am) following (the enemy). (Barometer) falls (by) 14 Millibar, NNO 4, visibility 10."
The location of the sender and a check of existing records showed that the message was sent by Kapitänleutnant Hartwig Looks of U264, a German submarine that was eventually sunk in the North Atlantic in February 1944 by depth charges from the British sloops HMS Woodpecker and HMS Starling.
Mr Krah said today that the first message was deciphered by just 45 machines. The failure, so far, of the combined power of thousands of hardrives has raised the question of whether the last two will ever be cracked.
"Of course there is no guarantee that another break will occur at all, there is simply a fair chance," he said.
The two messages facing Mr Krah and his allies were first published in Cryptologia, an academic journal, in 1995 by Ralph Erskine, a naval historian from Belfast. The codes were among the thousands that sat, unbreakable, for ten months during 1942 as the Allies struggled to catch up with the M4 upgrade of the Enigma.
Unbreakable? The remaining messages:
HCEY ZTCS OPUP PZDI UQRD LWXX FACT TJMB HDVC JJMM ZRPY IKHZ AWGL YXWT MJPQ UEFS ZBCT VRLA LZXW VXTS LFFF AUDQ FBWR RYAP SBOW JMKL DUYU PFUQ DOWV HAHC DWAU ARSW TKCF VOYF PUFH VZFD GGPO OVGR MBPX XZCA NKMO NFHX PCKH JZBU MXJW XKAU OD?Z UCVC XPFT
TMKF NWZX FFII YXUT IHWM DHXI FZEQ VKDV MQSW BQND YOZF TIWM JHXH YRPA CZUG RREM VPAN WXGT KTHN RLVH KZPG MNMV SECV CKHO INPL HHPV PXKM BHOK CCPD PEVX VVHO ZZQB IYIE OUSE ZNHJ KWHY DAGT XDJD JKJP KCSD SUZT QCXJ DVLP AMGQ KKSH PHVK SVPC BUWZ FIZP FUUP
all I know is Mein Gott lol
I make that out to say:
"My Hovercraft is full of eels."
These are actually secret prophecies.... their gist is that the future of the Nazi dream lies in the Muslim world and that Hitler should lend all resources and support to Arab/Muslim dictators while he still can.......
I just translated it...it reads:
"Wenn ist das Nunstruck git und Slotermeyer? Ja!...
Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!"
Now there's an obscure Odd Couple reference.
"HCEY ZTCS OPUP PZDI UQRD LWXX FACT TJMB HDVC JJMM ZRPY IKHZ AWGL YXWT MJPQ UEFS ZBCT VRLA LZXW VXTS LFFF AUDQ FBWR RYAP SBOW JMKL DUYU PFUQ DOWV HAHC DWAU ARSW TKCF VOYF PUFH VZFD GGPO OVGR MBPX XZCA NKMO NFHX PCKH JZBU MXJW XKAU OD?Z UCVC XPFT"
Gore/Lieberman in 2000.
"OUTER HULL GIVING WAY,(Our)POSIT (at)08:30h, TENGU TJ 4253, 150 degrees, 12 nautical miles, REPAIRS NOT HOLDING. BUSH'S FAULT. END"
.... -.-. . -.-- / --.. - -.-. ... / --- .--. ..- .--. / .--. --.. -.. .. / ..- --.- .-. -.. / .-.. .-- -..- -..- / ..-. .- -.-. - / - .--- -- -... / .... -.. ...- -.-. / .--- .--- -- -- / --.. .-. .--. -.-- / -..-. / .. -.- .... --.. / -..-. / .- .-- --. .-.. / -..-. / -.-- -..- .-- - / -..-. / -- .--- .--. --.- / -..-. / ..- . ..-. ... / -..-. / --.. -... -.-. - / -..-. / ...- .-. .-.. .- / -..-. / .-.. --.. -..- .-- / -..-. / ...- -..- - ... / -..-. / .-.. ..-. ..-. ..-. / -..-. / .- ..- -.. --.- / -..-. / ..-. -... .-- .-. / -..-. / .-. -.-- .- .--. / -..-. / ... -... --- .-- / -..-. / .--- -- -.- .-.. / -..-. / -.. ..- -.-- ..- / -..-. / .--. ..-. ..- --.- / -..-. / -.. --- .-- ...- / -..-. / .... .- .... -.-. / -..-. / -.. .-- .- ..- / -..-. / .- .-. ... .-- / -..-. / - -.- -.-. ..-. / -..-. / ...- --- -.-- ..-. / -..-. / .--. ..- ..-. .... / -..-. / ...- --.. ..-. -.. / -..-. / --. --. .--. --- / -..-. / --- ...- --. .-. / -..-. / -- -... .--. -..- / -..-. / -..- --.. -.-. .- / -..-. / -. -.- -- --- / -..-. / -. ..-. .... -..- / -..-. / .--. -.-. -.- .... / -..-. / .--- --.. -... ..- / -..-. / -- -..- .--- .-- / -..-. / -..- -.- .- ..- / -..-. / --- -.. ..--.. --.. / -..-. / ..- -.-. ...- -.-. / -..-. / -..- .--. ..-. -Of course that's only the 1st half - be back after lunch.
(uh.. isn't it a little late to be cracking German codes? After all, we know who won.)
Second Christmas Story reference today. Conspiracy!
Fascinating post.
The breaking of Enigma was a huge success that likely shortened WWII by at least a year or two.
I'd like to see our computers attempt to decipher the remaining Venona transcripts - if they're capable of doing it.
The vast majority of Venona transcripts were never broken or only partially broken. It would be interesting to see the level of Soviet infiltration (of the US) during WWII and shortly after.
I think it would be much worse than we know.
Okay, I'm done, here it is. :)
Zwei drei vier one two three
Its easy to see
But its not that I don't care so
Cause I hear it all the time
But they never let you know
On the TV and the radio
She was young her heart was pure
But every night is bright she got
She said sugar is sweet
She come rappin' to the beat
Then I knew that she was hot
She was singin
Don't turn around, oh oh
Der Kommissar's in town, oh oh
You're in his eye
And you'll know why
The more you live
The faster you will die
Alles klar, Herr Kommissar?
She said babe you know
I miss Jill and Joe
And all my funky friends
But my street understanding
was just enough to know what she really meant
And I got to thinking while she was talking
That I know she told the story
Of those special places that she goes
When she rides with the others in the subway
Singin'
Don't turn around, oh oh
Der Kommissar's in town, oh oh
And if he talks to you
And you don't know why
You say your life
Is gonna make you die...
Alles klar, Herr Kommissar?
Well we meet Jill and Joe
And brother Herr
And the whole cool gang (and oh)
They're rappin' here they're rappin' there
But she's climbin' on the wall
Its a clear case, Herr Kommissar
Cause all the children know
They're all slidin' down into the valley
They're all slipping on the same snow
Hear the children
Don't turn around, oh oh
Der Kommissar's in town, oh oh
He's got the power
And you're so weak
And you're frustration will not let you speak
Don't turn around, oh oh
Der Kommissar's in town, oh oh
And if he talks to you
Then you'll know why
The more you live
The faster you will die
Don't turn around, oh oh
Der Kommissar's in town, oh oh
(repeat)
"John has a long moustache."
I see someone is a Longest Day fan ;)
LOL -
"My dog has no nose!"
"How does he smell?"
"Awful!"
.
blessent mon coeur d'un langueur monotone
The longest Day?
I thought it was Red Dawn.
No it was The Longest Day, it those really were the codes the BBC used to signal the Resistance that the invasion was imminent.
John has a long moustache
The chair is against the wall.
No doubt they knew that because they had watched The Longest Day.
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