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Colossus Cracks Again

Posted by CmdrTaco on Thu Nov 15, 2007 09:37 AM
from the now-yer-playing-with-power dept.

BOfH writes "The BBC is reporting that following a 14-year rebuild project, the Colossus computer is once again cracking codes at Bletchley Park." They will crack WWII-era encrypted messages, and compete against modern PCs. Fun stuff for crypto nerds and history buffs.

+ -

superglaze writes "The Colossus codecracker contest was a short-lived ordeal. Not only has it been outdone in a cipher-breaking challenge, but — irony of ironies — it was beaten by a German! From the story: 'The winner was Joachim Schüth, from Bonn, who completed the task using software he wrote himself. "[Schüth] cracked the most difficult code yesterday," said the museum's spokesperson on Friday. "We're absolutely delighted. He used specially written software for the challenge. Colossus is still chugging away, as we got the signals late. Yesterday the atmospheric conditions were such that we couldn't get good signals.'"

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The real question is.... (Score:5, Funny)

by zappepcs (820751) on Thursday November 15 2007, @09:39AM (#21362919) Journal

will it be able to detect dupes?
- Even more important than that . . . (Score:3, Funny)
  
  by SpeedyGonz (771424)
  
  . . . Will it blend?
How long (Score:3, Funny)

by Steeltalon (734391) on Thursday November 15 2007, @09:40AM (#21362925)

until someone ports Quake to it?
- Re: (Score:3, Funny)
  
  by somersault (912633)
  
  And less importantly, will it run Vista?
Link to Bletchley Park (Score:5, Informative)

by fantomas (94850) on Thursday November 15 2007, @09:41AM (#21362943)

At least provide a link to the Bletchley Park museum itself!

http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/ [bletchleypark.org.uk]

It's a great visit. Go check it out. They don't get a lot of funding so they are very dependent on visitors (and volunteers if you live nearby) to help keep things going. They had to sell off some of their land recently to keep going (this is now getting turned into a local housing estate).
- Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
  
  by pev (2186)
  
  I had an amazing day there a few years back - one of the most amazing things was that many of the volunteers were connected to Bletchley Park originally and you could talk to them to get their stories first hand. There are very few opportunities for such things these days and well worth taking the opportunity to meet them (and have a nice cup of tea!)
- - Re:Link to Bletchley Park (Score:5, Funny)
    
    by Bloke down the pub (861787) on Thursday November 15 2007, @10:08AM (#21363275)
    
    Not all of us are fortunate neough to be able to travel to London.
    Not a problem, it's in Milton Keynes.
    
    Parent
  - Re: (Score:3, Funny)
    
    by Stooshie (993666)
    
    ... It made me wonder, though, how similar today's military codebreaking centres like Ft. Mead are in terms of comaraderie ...
    
    What military code breaking centres? There are none!
Not as fast as it used to be. (Score:5, Funny)

by RandoX (828285) on Thursday November 15 2007, @09:44AM (#21362961)

The machine is only running at about 30% of the speed it did originally. It appears that their ISP is throttling their packets for some reason. Comcast cited DMCA violations as the reason for the packet shaping.
- Re: (Score:3, Funny)
  
  by Basehart (633304)
  
  I found a really old photo [wikipedia.org] of it with its operator. Amazing how old this thing really is.
And how is this different. . . (Score:3, Interesting)

by smooth wombat (796938) on Thursday November 15 2007, @09:44AM (#21362963) Homepage Journal

than this article [slashdot.org] from 2 days ago?
- Re: (Score:3, Funny)
  
  by FredDC (1048502)
  
  This is the decrypted version?
Linux port (Score:2, Funny)

by Gothmolly (148874)

Any word on the Debian port ?
Cracking codes again (Score:2)

by ettlz (639203)

Oh, is this anything to do with that earlier RIPA all-your-keys-are-belong-to-us story?
I Want a Babbage Engine, Dammit! (Score:2, Funny)

by R2.0 (532027)

I'm a mechanical engineer, and I demand the construction of a full scale Babbage engine, simply for bragging rights. ...grumble grumble...fucking EE's think the sun shines out their asses...grumble...
- Re:I Want a Babbage Engine, Dammit! (Score:5, Interesting)
  
  by BigBadBus (653823) on Thursday November 15 2007, @10:26AM (#21363525) Homepage
  
  There is a full scale replica, at London's Science Museum, made by their own technicians. Its a lovely mesh of bronze and brass cogs and gears, and yes, it does work. I worked there years ago and was told something interesting: Bill Gates funded the construction of the display model on the condition that afterwards, they build him one too. Which I presume they did.
  
  Parent
  - - Re:I Want a Babbage Engine, Dammit! (Score:4, Funny)
      
      by tsjaikdus (940791) on Thursday November 15 2007, @11:12AM (#21364179)
      
      He also required the printer to have a blue pen the could fill in large surfaces.
      
      Parent
Reading the RSS title ... (Score:3)

by StarfishOne (756076) on Thursday November 15 2007, @10:18AM (#21363413)

I initially had this amazing vision in my mind of a huge Greek mythical hero in the sky ... with a huge hammer (perhaps borrowed from Thor!) and an anvil to match... picking up numbers and cracking them with huge force one by one.... causing all kinds of wild lightning like effects that scared all mortals on the ground.

Then I realized I have some code to debug. ;-)
The first message cracked (Score:4, Funny)

by albeit unknown (136964) on Thursday November 15 2007, @10:20AM (#21363435)

Be sure to drink your ovaltine
But... (Score:2)

by sznupi (719324)

...does it run Linux?
- Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
  
  by sznupi (719324)
  
  (I was shocked BTW; so many comments, not one with the _truly_ relevant question...)
Ooh, I get to do it this time! (Score:2, Funny)

by Grimbleton (1034446)

I, for one, welcome our restored cryptography overlords.
One of The First Clockless Systems (Score:3, Interesting)

by TheHawke (237817) <rchapin.pelicancoast@net> on Thursday November 15 2007, @11:34AM (#21364571) Homepage

Colossus ran as fast as the tape reader could scan and compare tapes. They estimated that the unit could do as much as 10,000 to 15,000 Characters Per Second (CPS). Material issues kept the machine running dependably at 5,000 CPS. As the story goes, the inventor cranked the tape scanner up to 10,000 CPS and the paper tape failed, sending ribbons flying across the room. At 60MPH, paper flies very fast!
- - Re: (Score:2)
    
    by $RANDOMLUSER (804576)
    
    I liked the book better. I'm still curious if the choice of the name "Colossus" was a coincedence, or a nod to the truth. Bletchley Park was only revealed in the 70's, but the book was published in 1966. But the author, D.F. Jones [wikipedia.org], was a WWII naval commander...
- Re:Pedant (Score:4, Informative)
  
  by jeremyp (130771) on Thursday November 15 2007, @05:13PM (#21370253) Homepage Journal
  
  Not Enigma.
  
  They used bombes to crack Enigma. Colossus was for a completely different cipher called Lorenz
  
  http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/content/machines.rhtm [bletchleypark.org.uk]
  
  Parent

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The real question is.... (Score:5, Funny)

Even more important than that . . . (Score:3, Funny)

How long (Score:3, Funny)

Re: (Score:3, Funny)

Link to Bletchley Park (Score:5, Informative)

Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

Re:Link to Bletchley Park (Score:5, Funny)

Re: (Score:3, Funny)

Not as fast as it used to be. (Score:5, Funny)

Re: (Score:3, Funny)

And how is this different. . . (Score:3, Interesting)

Re: (Score:3, Funny)

Linux port (Score:2, Funny)

Cracking codes again (Score:2)

I Want a Babbage Engine, Dammit! (Score:2, Funny)

Re:I Want a Babbage Engine, Dammit! (Score:5, Interesting)

Re:I Want a Babbage Engine, Dammit! (Score:4, Funny)

Reading the RSS title ... (Score:3)

The first message cracked (Score:4, Funny)

But... (Score:2)

Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

Ooh, I get to do it this time! (Score:2, Funny)

One of The First Clockless Systems (Score:3, Interesting)

Re: (Score:2)

Re:Pedant (Score:4, Informative)

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Colossus Cracks Again 25 Comments More Login /

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The real question is.... (Score:5, Funny)

Even more important than that . . . (Score:3, Funny)

How long (Score:3, Funny)

Re: (Score:3, Funny)

Link to Bletchley Park (Score:5, Informative)

Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

Re:Link to Bletchley Park (Score:5, Funny)

Re: (Score:3, Funny)

Not as fast as it used to be. (Score:5, Funny)

Re: (Score:3, Funny)

And how is this different. . . (Score:3, Interesting)

Re: (Score:3, Funny)

Linux port (Score:2, Funny)

Cracking codes again (Score:2)

I Want a Babbage Engine, Dammit! (Score:2, Funny)

Re:I Want a Babbage Engine, Dammit! (Score:5, Interesting)

Re:I Want a Babbage Engine, Dammit! (Score:4, Funny)

Reading the RSS title ... (Score:3)

The first message cracked (Score:4, Funny)

But... (Score:2)

Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

Ooh, I get to do it this time! (Score:2, Funny)

One of The First Clockless Systems (Score:3, Interesting)

Re: (Score:2)

Re:Pedant (Score:4, Informative)

Please Log In to Continuex

Close

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