Description: Cipher Machines
crypto (5045) enigma (161) cipher (92) nema (53) cypher (35) hagelin (4) transvertex (2) hc-9 (2) m-209 (2) m-94 (2)
The battle of wits between codemakers and codebreakers has been the driving force for innovation in cipher technology for many centuries. Every time the codemakers invented the next advancement in cipher technology, the codebreakers would find an ingenious way to break that cipher. This website explores the technology of these crypto devices and the dramatic consequences of codebreaking to history.
The science and history of cryptology is shrouded in secrecy and confusion. As the veil is lifted on these secrets, often many decades or centuries after the fact, we gain a greater understanding of how codebreaking changed the traditional view of history. As a result, we are forced to re-examine and rewrite that history. Also, the invention and inventors of many cipher technologies are kept secret for many years. Examples of cipher technologies traditionally credited to the wrong inventors include: the Eni
The battle for cipher supremacy is intertwined with advances in closely aligned technologies such as; radio, telephone, teletype, computers and the internet. Sometimes, a new technology will be the catalyst for a new cipher machine and sometimes it will be the catalyst for codebreaking. The invention of the vacuum tube played both roles. Because of the widespread use of the new invention of radio in WW1, for example, every country was surprised to find that their ciphers were broken. This spurred the next p