The Computer
Exciting news, another Enigma cipher machine was found by underwater archeologists. Yes, it is unfortunate that it was immersed in salt water since World War II ended in 1945. Regardless, it is a great find, and nice to know that it was donated to the Museum of Archeology in Schleswig, undergoing restoration. How cool is that?
Are you familiar with the original encryption computer that is the forerunner of your laptop and smartphone? Here is a modest history lesson to help fill in some blanks. We’ll leave out the part about the Dutch actually doing the fundamental research in the 1920s, as that is a lengthy description.
Enigma Machine History
In the 1930s, the Germans embraced the idea of encrypting communications to allow only the intended party to read the message. Fundamentally, the premise is something like a regular typewriter, then incorporating a series of rotors into the typewriter mechanics that would be set in a certain way to reliably scramble the information. Yes, the typewriter is a relatively old school capability.
The trick is to reliably unscramble the gibberish on the receiving end to clearly read the actual content. The way that was accomplished included the agreement of the rotor settings at both ends. Voilà, you have encrypted communications that can be transmitted where anyone can pick them up, but only those…
