[News]Enigma Project Cracks Code

[Rakesh 'arky' Ambati]

FYI

--arky 



BBC NEWS | Technology | Enigma project cracks second
code	
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/technology/4808882.stm		

  
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   Wednesday, 15 March 2006, 12:09 GMT

Enigma project cracks second code

   ]A German Enigma machine Online codebreaking
enthusiasts working to
   solve a series of German World War II ciphers have
cracked the second of
   three codes.

   Thousands of users around the world have joined the
M4 Project, using
   spare computing power to crack the codes.

   The messages were encoded using the German Enigma
machine, and outfoxed
   wartime experts at Bletchley Park.

   Project leaders have already failed to crack the
last remaining message,
   but insist it can be broken.

   The three messages were unearthed by amateur
historian Ralph Erskine, who
   submitted them to a cryptology journal in 1995 as a
challenge for
   codebreakers.

   Last crack

   They were sent in 1942, during a period when the
Allies were unable to
   crack German codes because of the introduction of a
new code book and a
   more complex version of the Enigma machine.

   SOLVED CIPHER #2

     * Found nothing on convoy's course 55°, [I am]
moving to the ordered
       [naval] square. Position naval square AJ 3995.
[wind] south-east
       [force] 4, sea [state] 3, 10/10 cloudy,
[barometer] [10]28 mb [and]
       rising, fog, visibility 1 nautical mile

   Nazi codes cracked online

   Stephan Krah, a German enthusiast, wrote the M4
Project software - named
   after the M4 Enigma machine used to encode the
messages - in an effort to
   unravel the codes' mystery.

   The first code was cracked on 20 February, and was
confirmed as a message
   from the commander of a German U-boat,
Kapitanleutenant Hartwig Looks.

   The second resolved code was less dramatic than the
first, which detailed
   the aftermath of a clash with an Allied vessel.

   The newly-deciphered code is little more than a
status report and a
   confirmation of position.

   THE UNSOLVED CIPHER

     * 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 TXCF VOYF PUFH VZFD GGPO
OVGR MBPX XZCA NKMO NFHX
       PCKH JZBU MXJW XKAU OD?Z UCVC XPFT

   Confirming the break on the M4 Project website,
Stefan Krah said efforts
   would now shift back to the last message, actually
the first of the three
   original submissions.

   Previous efforts to crack the code exhausted the
combinations available on
   German army and three-ring Enigma machines, but did
not try all
   combinations relevant to the complex four-ring
Enigma used to encode the
   messages.

  
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