Beurling.

This is coolbert:

“I have met many gifted persons in my day, but only one genius. I need not mention his name.” - - Ake Lundqvist.

“He was a demi-god, so I was very proud.” - - Gunnar Blom.

Here is more on Arne Beurling.

If the Swedish accounts of the "breaking" of the geheimschreiber machine are true and factual, then this feat of Mr. Arne must standout as perhaps the GREATEST cryptanalytic achievement of ALL TIME.



"cryptanalyst n : decoder skilled in the analysis of codes and cryptograms"

In contrast to cryptanalytic counter-parts in a variety of nations, Mr. Arne did NOT have or had access to:

* A team of mathematicians to aid him??

* An abundance of traffic available for analysis [Arne had only one days worth].

* A knowledge of the cryptographic algorithm being used.

* A "peek" at the machine itself.

* An abundance of "machines" [Hollerith processors] to aid the analytical process.

* Collateral intelligence that could aid in the cryptanalytic effort.

Keep in mind that the geheimschreiber was considered by the German to be secure by a magnitude beyond that of the ENIGMA machine already in operation.

Mr. Arne reached a general solution in TWO WEEKS!!

Whoa boy!!

Consider that:

* The American TEAM of mathematicians that "broke" the Japanese PURPLE machine took eighteen months to do so.

* The Polish, French [for a short time], and then the British could "read" ENIGMA, but then only after years of effort, accompanied by the fruits of espionage [agent "Asche"], manuals, schematics, captured working machines, keylists, "peeks", working aids, an abundance of encrypted traffic, and TEAMS of mathematicians working in concert, etc.

The efforts of American, Polish, French, and British cryptanalysts would seem TO PALE IN COMPARISON with the efforts and achievement of Arne Beurling!!??

Let me offer a suggestion here as to what may have also been in play and NOT acknowledged.

[and never will be acknowledged either!!]

In the years prior to WW2, the Russian emigre' Boris Hagelin set up shop in Sweden. Manufactured and sold WORLD WIDE his Hagelin cryptographic machines. A competitor to the commercial version of the ENIGMA. As a normal course of his business, Boris WOULD HAVE HAD TO BEEN conversant in all the latest cryptographic developments and advancement on an again, WORLD WIDE BASIS. Perhaps whatever information Boris was able to glean was passed on to Arne? I am only speculating here!

Arne Beurling. Crypto genius numero uno??!! Perhaps!!

coolbert.

Geheim!

This is coolbert:

Let me qualify my last blog entry by saying that it took Arne Beurling TWO WEEKS and not TWO DAYS to arrive at a general solution to the geheimschreiber. That is still a remarkable accomplishment.

During the years of World War Two [WW2] both General Mannerheim and General Rommel were credited with having what can be described as almost super-cognition powers. Bordering upon the uncanny. Were able to "know" the intentions of the enemy in advance and take proper measures.

Well, there was nothing uncanny about any of it.

Arne Beurling again, contributed mightily to the abilities of the Finns to hold off Soviet invasion in 1940.

Beurling and a colleague were able to read Soviet enciphered code and pass ACTIONABLE intelligence to the Finns in time. This is where Mannerheim got his remarkable ability of pre-cognition from.

"At the outbreak of WWII, Arne Beurling was assigned to study Russian transmissions. To assist him in this task, he has Ake Lundqvist (mentioned above). Arne's section succeeds in deciphering 10,400 of the Russian Baltic Navy's telegrams. The Russians used a four-digit code (which was broken by Gosta Wollbeck and Olle Sydow) and an “additively super-enciphered five-digit code” (which was broken by Beurling and Lundqvist)."

Rommel also was receiving, during the early stages of the North African campaign, daily intelligence that was the result of German crypto-busting.

The German DID have SOME successes with cryptanalysis during WW2.

WERE able to read enciphered code of both the British Navy and American military attaches'.

The messages of the latter, sent from Cairo, provided the proverbial gold-mine of actionable intelligence when "read" by German interceptors. Rommel based many of his early successes upon the intelligence gleaned from the very judicious and detailed reporting of the American military attache' in Cairo. This attache', providing daily reports to Washington D.C., also, without his knowing it, provided the same to Rommel. Reports so detailed that the normal intelligence activities of the Afrika Corps were superfluous.

"Fellers [the American attache'] was sending one telegram after another to Washington. He fairly outdid himself in his reporting. He ranged all over the battle area, saw and heard everything, knew all preparations, every intention, every movement of the British forces and transmitted it all to the United States. The German intercept station promptly copied his messae, sent it by teletype to Berlin where it was deciphered and sent by the speediest possible route to Rommel. That took only a few hours. By now the system had been completely solved."

OH MY!

Enciphered code is generally categorized as a high-level system. Still, was "readable", to the belated chagrin of many. This sort of this happened over and over during WW2.

coolbert.

Yardley.

This is coolbert:

I refreshed my memory regarding those cipher systems employed by the Axis spies in South America. The ciphers that Herbert O. Yardley was able to read in the latter part of 1940.

These ciphers, three of them demonstrated by illustration in the book, "Hitler's Secret War In South America", WERE low-grade ciphers NOT of great complexity.

[Two of the ciphers systems were transpositions. NOT hard in these two instances for skilled cryptanalysts to read. The Germans had added simple refinements that would make the enemy cryptanalysts job more difficult, but not that more difficult. The Germans did create ciphers that were simple for low level agents to use. Maybe that is all they had in mind, ease of use, without a whole lot of regard to security? The third cipher was a simple substitution cipher CREATED BY THE USER [the German secret agent]. Why German intelligence would have allowed such a cipher to be used is beyond me? Again, ease of use must have been the main consideration, not security. Even this simple substitution cipher would not have posed a big problem for even the most NOVICE of cryptanalysts.]

Yardley and his team of analysts probably had no problem in reading these messages from Axis spies to headquarters in Berlin. The messages concerned shipping in and out of Brazilian ports. Shipping that in 1940 was vital to the Allied war effort. Shipping at the mercy of German U-Boats.

Reading these messages could lead to capture of the spies. Denying the German Navy vital intelligence at a time when it was vital to them also.

In the notes section at the end of the book this reference is made to the ciphers:

"The code [actually a cipher as opposed to a code] is described in U.S. embassy (Rio) to State Dept., April 20, 1943, NA, RG, 59 862.20210/2338."

Again, same as above, but dated "March 3, March 16, 1943."

This would suggest to me that these German cryptographic systems were NOT being read by U.S. authorities until 1943!!?? I sure would hope not. If Yardley was reading these ciphers in late 1940, and the U.S. did NOT read them until 1943, what does that say??

coolbert.

Foolishness II.

This is coolbert:

Regarding the exclusion of Admiral Poindexter from future Homeland Security, anti-terrorist operations, there does seem to be precedent for this sort of thing.

Persons that can contribute in a significant way to the war effort, but for extraneous and sometimes outrageous reasons, are felt to be unsuitable and undesirable.

Persons that become pariahs.

Persons whose talents are wasted. To the detriment of all.

Such a situation existed in World War Two [WW2] also.

This was the case of Herbert Osborne Yardley. American cryptologist.

Cryptologist - - "A person who engages in the scientific study of cryptography and cryptanalysis."

Who had served admirably during World War One [WW1] and HAD also served the Nationalist Chinese government in a similar manner [as an advisor in cryptologic matters]..

Yardley's particular expertise was as a cryptanalyst.

"Cryptanalyst - - A person who engages in: 1 : the solving of cryptograms or cryptographic systems 2 : the theory of solving cryptograms or cryptographic systems : the art of devising methods for this."

Was also an excellent administrator, a hard worker, and a man possessing a particular persuasive charm.

Was also a man deemed untrustworthy by many in the field of intelligence. U.S. and British intelligence officers were loathe to deal with Yardley at any level. Yardley, in the early 1930's, DID write a tell-all book that scandalized many and DID reveal many secrets. This is a story in itself. NOT a subject for this blog entry. Let us say that Yardley was DESPISED by many.

[this tell-all book, the "American Black Chamber", to this day, is usually on the MUST READ list of those who are interested in the field of intelligence. Well written, easy to read, an enjoyable read, very entertaining. Yardley also wrote a book entitled, "Chinese Black Chamber". A chronicle of his Chinese experience. This book was Also an entertaining read, but NOT as good as his former work!!]

Nonetheless, in 1940, Yardley found himself back in the crypto business.

Working for the Canadians.

At this point in the war, the Canada did NOT possess an independent radio intelligence service

[a radio intelligence service intercepts SECRET radio communications of foreign powers and analyzes same for the purpose of developing intelligence.]

An independent service that would have an intercept capability coupled with analysis. In 1940, the Canadians DID have an intercept service, but DID NOT have an analysis capability. The British provided analysis, the Canadians told to merely copy and forward raw radio intercepts.

Yardley had assured Canadian authorities that in six weeks, with a minimum of say fifteen analysts, trained by himself, he could have an analysis bureau up and running. This was in extreme MARKED contrast to what other American authorities had told the Canadians.

[General Mauborgne, American Signal Corps officer, had told the Canadians that it would take a year of training and a minimum of two hundred fifty personnel to get an radio intelligence analysis bureau going!!!]

Yardley was duly hired as head of the brand new Canadian radio intelligence analysis bureau!!

It seems that Yardley WAS ABLE to deliver on his promise!!

"Within two weeks he confirmed his patrons' confidence in him by solving a cipher used by German agents in Brazil to report the movements of merchant ships. By September, Yardley was routinely reading German clandestine traffic out of South America and had cracked ciphers used by the governments of Vichy France and Columbia. By October he had solved a medium-grade Japanese system."

A pretty outstanding performance, by almost any standard!! Yardley even exceeded his promised expectations!

[these secret messages of Axis spies in South America were encrypted in relatively simple transposition cryptographic systems [what would classified as low-grade crypto systems]. NOT difficult for skilled cryptanalysts to read. This was well within the abilities of Yardley and his trainees. One would ask, however, if this stuff was so easy to read, why were not others doing the same? Were these secret messages from Axis spies going unread?? It may very well be that Yardley was doing what others could do, BUT WERE NOT doing!! What is one to make of this??]

Within several months, however, Yardley was curtly dismissed from his position. This at the insistence of American and British intelligence officers, who told the Canadians there WOULD BE NO further cooperation in cryptologic matters until Yardley was fired. Yardley, years after his major indiscretions, was still despised and loathed, his skills nothwithstanding!!

"When asked about Yardley's technical competence, Olmstead replied by asking the Canadians whether, if they were hiring a chef and one applied who was a known criminal, they would be interested in his ability to make an omelet."

[this argument is ABSURD!! You can find a whole bunch of cooks that can make good omelets. You CANNOT find but a few persons, such as Yardley, who have GOD-given innate talent in the cryptologic field. And that is what it is, GOD-given innate talent. It is even MUCH harder to find persons with GOD-given innate cryptologic talent that are intuitive auto-didacts [self-taught person] as was Yardley. And EVEN BEYOND THAT, it is much, much, more difficult to find such persons that are at the same time able administrators!! Yardley DID have considerable talents!!]

Was this a wise decision!! Firing Yardley and dismissing the man without regard to contributions he still may have been able to make??

I would think that during WAR TIME, you should avail yourself of all the help you can get. Including persons who are of dubious repute. There ARE ways to handle this type of individual you may not like. An amicable working relationship can in some manner be worked out, without regard to personal animosities, the greater good in the end always being kept in mind!!

This did not occur with Herbert Osborne Yardley!!

Yardley was given, years later, an honorable burial at Arlington National Cemetery, in light of his WW1 war record and his outstanding devotion to the defense of his country during that conflict.

coolbert.

Enigma!

This is coolbert:

In a number of prior blog entries, I have referred to ULTRA intelligence.

I feel some elucidation is required here for those uninitiated in ULTRA.

This is the intelligence that was derived from the intercept and decryption by the allied powers of high-level, secret, encrypted German radio message traffic during World War Two [WW2].

Intelligence that DID play a vital, contributing role toward eventual defeat of the German war machine.

Several new and unique concepts were at work here that made this all possible. The fact that modern warfare of the type fought in WW2 was based to a large extent upon entire military units employing fast-moving internal combustion engine powered machines [tanks]. Units that could be controlled from afar by commanders using long-radio communication to issue orders.

A means had to be available to secure the message traffic of the long-radio communications from unintended recipients [enemy radio interceptors].

The German military, in the early 1930's, decided to standardize their secure message communications via the Enigma cipher machine. An electro-mechanical cipher machine based upon a commercial version first developed in the 1920’s. A electro-mechanical cipher machine strengthened and made more secure by German cryptographic experts who added a number of modifications to the basic commercial version. An improved electro-mechanical cipher machine that was soon in mass production by the German military. A cipher machine of the most complex order referred to by the Germans as ENIGMA.

As to the strength of the Enigma machine from producing enciphered messages that would be UNREADABLE by unintended recipients, the German experts were counting NOT upon ABSOLUTE security, but that the Enigma would provide more than adequate security. More than adequate security that would defeat efforts at cryptanalysis for such a period of time that any intelligence gained from decrypting and reading the secure German radio traffic would not be actionable. An example of this would be:

If a message secured by Enigma is sent on a Sunday, that message saying, "Convoy sails from Sicily on Monday, arrives in Tunisia on Wednesday", and the allied radio interceptors do not decipher this message until the following Friday, intercept and decryption of the message by the allies does them NO GOOD!! YOU DO NOT HAVE ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE BY READING THE SECRET MESSAGE!!

German experts would have probably conceded that secret messages secured by the Enigma machine were in a theoretical sense "readable". They would not have conceded that those secret messages could be decrypted in enough time to create actionable intelligence. By using the Enigma machine, the Germans believed they had created an insurmountable problem for allied enemy radio interceptors and cryptanalysts.

This insurmountable problem, however, was found TO BE surmountable.

The Poles were the first to overcome the seemingly insurmountable problem created by Enigma. A team of highly motivated and skilled Polish mathematicians, using a combination of complex equations, a light table, and an electro-mechanical apparatus called a "bombe", were, after much laborious effort, able to "read" Enigma secured German military radio traffic. And read this traffic in such a manner that actionable intelligence could be obtained.

[The Poles were keenly aware of the value from developing intelligence based on the intercept and decryption of enemy secure message traffic. The "Miracle on the Vistula", the defeat of Soviet forces in 1920 by the newly formed Polish Army, was made largely possible by the intercept of insecure Soviet radio communications. Intercepts, that when analyzed, provided ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE for the Poles. Actionable intelligence that led to a Soviet defeat that was totally unexpected.]

[Amazingly, the head of the Polish mathematical team HAD in his possession, an Enigma machine and the keys for same. He DID NOT reveal this to this team of mathematicians as he wanted them to develop their skill WITHOUT resorting to "working aids". That the Polish math team was able to succeed as they did is a stupendous achievement!!!]

Following the outbreak of WW2 in 1939, French and British cryptanalysts, benefiting from the breakthrough of the Poles, also were able to "read" Enigma messages, and do so in a manner to create actionable intelligence.

The British in particular, and the Americans after them, institutionalized and industrialized the decryption process of Enigma secured messages to a marked degree.

To further advance the decryption process, British Post Office electrical engineers were able to develop what was called "Colussus". A electronic machine that has been called the first COMPUTER. Indeed, it has been said that the entire history of the electronic computer has to rewritten in light of the development of the "Colussus"!!!

[The existence of "Colussus" was a secret for thirty years following the end of WW2. As was the secret of the exploitation of decrypted Enigma messages.]

[Strangely enough, during the war years, German cryptanalysts DID conclude that the Enigma cipher machine WAS subject to attack. Employing a method of sliding strips, a method of "attack" different from what the Poles, French, British and Americans used, these German experts were themselves able to "read" messages secured by the Enigma machine. At this point, the Germans had such an investment and confidence in the Enigma machine that there was no going back. A new system could NOT be fielded and used in sufficient time to make a difference!]

Although it is generally accepted that the successful allied effort to create actionable intelligence by "reading" Enigma secured traffic shortened the war and reduced casualties considerably, keep in mind that it was still a hard fight and a long slog to defeat the German war machine!!

And the fact that the secret of reading Enigma was kept secret for a thirty year period after the end of the war is also remarkable!!

[The British, capturing thousands of Enigma machines at the end of the war, presented these machines to various colonies that were on the verge of independence. These colonial governments were told that , "Enigma was a secure system they could rely upon to safeguard their communications!!". Whoa!!]

And what of the Soviets?? Calcoveressi states that he believes the Soviets DID also have success in "reading" Enigma traffic during the war. He also states that in all probability the Soviets DID NOT have the same degree of success as did the British and Americans. Were able to "read" Enigma messages, but not in the same quantity or timeliness as did the allies!!

coolbert.

Free!

This is coolbert:

I have mentioned in previous blog entries about how weaponry that was once available to only the militaries of the most technologically advanced nations is now readily available to anyone in the world.

Anyone, whether it be a nation-state, a drug cartel, or a criminal gang, possessing the means to pay for advanced weaponry and related technology, can obtain almost whatever is their hearts desire.

One such technological area is the once arcane and secretive field of cryptography.

According to Webopedia, cryptography can be defined as:

"The art of protecting information by transforming it (encrypting it) into an unreadable format, called cipher text. Only those who possess a secret key can decipher (or decrypt) the message into plain text."

We are talking here about protecting information, data, messages, etc., from being read [listened to as well], by unwanted, prying recipients [unintended parties].

Cryptography was for centuries, even for milleniums, almost strictly the purview of governments. And when cryptography was used by governments, it was used primarily only by a few select institutions and individuals within a government. The military, diplomats, and certain select high echelon officials made use of cryptography, and then only when required [to safeguard sensitive secrets].

And the entire process of cryptography was cloaked with the greatest secrecy. Almost NOTHING at all was in the public domain concerning cryptography. What was available was a limited historical record. But this tended to be sparse and was usually not very revealing.

NO LONGER!!!

The modern transformation of cryptography from an arcane "art" to the current ubiquitous public usage [the user may be using cryptography without even realizing it] began with the widespread use of computers in networks. Computer networks such as MILNET [military network], DARPANET [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency network], and a variety of industrial, commercial, academic, and financial networks, began to merge in a semi-haphazard fashion with a multitude of public and private users to form the current Internet and the World Wide Web [WWW], in all it's manifestations and applications.

And very early in the networking game, say around the mid-1970's, it became abundantly clear that all this communications via computer had to be safeguarded in some manner. Governmental secrets were only one part of the safeguarding issue. Industrial trade secrets, business transactions, and individual privacy were all at stake here. The value of financial transactions DAILY via the international currency markets is over a TRILLION dollars [perhaps more now??]. Some sort of safeguarding was required.

Especially when it was realized that the internet was also susceptible to compromise by a host of nefarious characters. HACKERS. Again, what was once the purview [intercept, cryptanalysis, etc.] of only a small select group of governmental agencies [espionage agencies], was now something that could be practiced by lone individuals working out of their basement [again, HACKERS].

"As the Internet and other forms of electronic communication become more prevalent, electronic security is becoming increasingly important. Cryptography is used to protect e-mail messages, credit card information, and corporate data."

[internet phone can also be secured by cryptographics now available. Click here to see such a site that allows the individual to use secure internet phone for FREE. Believe me, this is something, secure voice communications, that was once available until recently ONLY to the most senior governmental officials].

And safeguarding was found.

A whole host of cryptographic systems have been developed by computer science experts to safeguard the multitude of communications traveling DAILY over the internet. These cryptographic systems [algorithms] have names such as DES, 3DES, AES, Blowfish, GOST, PGP, etc. Cryptographic algorithms that can be obtained by the private individual personal computer [PC] user as freeware. YES, FOR FREE.

[I would point out that these systems all seem to be revised and improved variants of Lucifer. A computer cryptographic algorithm devised in 1966 by a computer scientist working for IBM. It could be that this algorithm was named Lucifer because it was so diabolical in it's concept and design!!].

Not only have a whole host of cryptographic algorithms been devised and made available to the average consumer, but the vital keying obligatory for these systems has been devised and implemented. As was mentioned above:

"Only those who possess a secret key can decipher (or decrypt) the message into plain text."

"Cryptography systems can be broadly classified into symmetric-key systems that use a single key that both the sender and recipient have, and public-key systems that use two keys, a public key known to everyone and a private key that only the recipient of messages uses."

This is referred to as PUBLIC-KEY CRYPTOGRAPHY.

The user of such cryptographics may well ask themselves, "well, how secure are these cryptographics??" I think it is safe to say that these various cryptographics are very, very secure. Secure from all but the most dedicated of espionage agencies of the world's powers. A lot of time, effort, resources would have to be used to read just one message.

And you have to ask yourself, unless you are a person of interest to the espionage agencies of the world's powers, what good would it do to read your message traffic?

The user might then also ask the question, "well, do these cryptographics provide absolute security??" And the answer to that question is NO!! The only cryptographic system that affords absolute security is the one-time-pad [OTP]. And that, if only used correctly. These various cryptographic algorithms now being used are of a periodic nature. A period that is very long, but is nonetheless, periodic. According to the great American cryptographer/cryptanalyst, William Friedman, "any period cryptographic system can be read, if enough resources and time are dedicated to the effort." Read about the one-time-pad by clicking here.

It is important for the user to understand that a cryptographic system does NOT have to provide absolute security. What it must do is defeat the efforts of unintended recipients to read the encrypted message within time to provide actionable intelligence.

The classical scenario is of an encrypted message sent on a Sunday that would say something like:

"Convoy sails from Brindisi on Monday, arrives Malta on Wednesday."

If the unintended recipient of this message was not able to read the message until the following Friday, reading the message does the unintended recipient no good. He does not have actionable intelligence. If the unintended recipient read the message on say Tuesday, he would have actionable intelligence and could act in an appropriate manner [sink the convoy].

Whatever cryptographic system is used to safeguard the above message would only need to be effective enough to delay the unintended recipient from reading the message in time, NOT absolutely safeguarding the message, just providing the required amount of security.

Unfortunately, the various cryptographics available for FREE on the internet are also available to a variety of bad eggs as well. Groups or persons that are disreputable can and do make good use of secure cryptographics to safeguard their activities as well. Groups such as terrorists, rogue nations, criminal gangs, drug cartels, perverts who use the internet are examples of villains that can employ secure cryptographics. However, the positive nature of secure cryptographics on the internet probably far outweighs the use of secure crypto by the villains of this world.

Technology that was not so long ago was available only to persons such as the President of the United States is now available to the average citizen, and as I have said before, FREE TOO!! Can that be bad??!! NO!!!

coolbert.