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Encryption Security

Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing Enigma Machine 155

Posted by timothy from the or-at-least-touching-it dept.
Adler writes: "A man has pleaded guilty to to 'handling' the stolen Enigma machine in the UK. Its a short piece, but says that some vital parts of the machine are still missing. A longer BBC News piece is here." You may remember when this was first stolen, then held for ransom, then recovered -- this is the mopping up part.
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Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing Enigma Machine More

Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing Enigma Machine

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  • He would have gotten away with it ... (Score:4, Funny)

    by ez76 ( 322080 ) <slashdot@ e 7 6 . us> on Saturday September 29, 2001 @06:06PM (#2369103) Homepage
    If only he had wrapped it in a better conundrum ...

  • If only... (Score:5, Funny)

    by BIGJIMSLATE ( 314762 ) on Saturday September 29, 2001 @06:06PM (#2369105)
    ...he could've stolen U-571 before the audiences were forced to watch that crap.

    I'd have to give him a medal if he did that. ;)
  • I predict that the missing parts will be found wrapped in a riddle.

    -- MarkusQ

  • Turing would be turning in his grave ... (Score:5, Funny)

    by srealm ( 157581 ) <prez@go t h .net> on Saturday September 29, 2001 @06:09PM (#2369118) Homepage
    As the US government now demands that a backdoor be put into this World War II relic ... it WAS considered 'strong' encryption in World War II anyway ...

    • Re:Turing would be turning in his grave ... (Score:5, Informative)

      by heliocentric ( 74613 ) on Saturday September 29, 2001 @06:24PM (#2369154) Homepage Journal
      As the US government now demands that a backdoor be put into this World War II relic ... it WAS considered 'strong' encryption in World War II anyway ...

      But how strong? Wasn't the enigma made for banking communications and then adobted by the military? Everyone knew back when the banks used it that there was the flaw that pressing a letter on the keypad would never result in that same letter being in that same place in the cypher text, but I don't thinks it a major leap of faith to assume the banking industry didn't expect several governments would work hard to attempt to foil the scheme...

      And furthermore, Turing didn't make the machine, or even have any impact on the design - turing was in the position the US gov is - trying to break down the ecryption. If you went up to Turing at a point when he was deeply stuck on something and asked his feelings about having a known backdoor, what would he say?

      (note: I do not support the US gov in the area of wanting backdoors, but I don't think unresearhed complaints against it is appropriate either)
    • Hmm, isn't this man now a circumvention device, better get the DMCA outta the holster!
    • Erm, why would Alan Turing, one of the guys who CRACKED the Enigma, be concerned about your hypothetical demands for a back door to be fitted?!

      Methinks you need to get your history straight before you try making any more historical jokes...

  • come on people (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Where are your priorites!

    Pearl Harbor was just attacked 57 years ago and you people are talking about some crappy shit noone cares about!

  • the missing rotors (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Lumpy ( 12016 ) on Saturday September 29, 2001 @06:12PM (#2369123) Homepage
    Dont they have a bunch of rotors but no enigma somewhere? Of the many enigmas made wouldn't there be some rotors left over?

    I know it's not the same as the entire recovered machine that was captured and used to defeat the natzi germany forces but like the crown jewels on display, noone will know they are fake or not the real ones.

    • Re:the missing rotors (Score:5, Informative)

      by Rogerborg ( 306625 ) on Saturday September 29, 2001 @06:16PM (#2369132) Homepage
      • I know it's not the same as the entire recovered machine that was captured and used to defeat the natzi germany forces

      Lest we rewrite history even more, Poland [ucsd.edu] cracked Enigma and gave a working machine (built from scratch) to the UK well before an actual German machine was recovered. The recovered machine just confirmed how amazingly accurate the Polish device was.

      • the one that was stolen I though was the german captured one and not the polish made one. (which has more historic revelance than the captured enigma. Which one was stolen then?

  • Colossus (Score:2, Informative)

    by chris_sawtell ( 10326 )
    Cracking the Enigma, and more importantly the Fish codes later on was made possible by some completely original thinking by Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers, who together created Colossus, the first ever electronic computer. ENIAC eat thy dust.

    • Re:Colossus (Score:4, Informative)

      by kd5biv ( 129563 ) on Saturday September 29, 2001 @06:30PM (#2369169)
      Cracking the Enigma, and more importantly the Fish codes later on was made possible by some completely original thinking by Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers, who together created Colossus, the first ever electronic computer. ENIAC eat thy dust.

      But the previous poster is right .. Polish intelligence was using a device called the "Bombe" to automate (to some extent) cracking a 3-wheel Enigma. Turing actually expanded on that design as a first step to cracking the 4-wheel machine, which was an order of magnitude more complicated, and later developed the Colossus as a more sophisticated approach to the same problem, but both were highly specialized machines and not as general-purpose as ENIAC .. although it *can* be argued that ENIAC wasn't exactly "general purpose" ..

      Now, if you want to talk about mechanical computers, what I *really* would like to see, if it's even possible, is a working model of Babbage's Analytical Engine. ;-) Probably not possible, since very few of his drawings survived, but it would still be fascinating to see that machine run .. bit offtopic, I'll agree, but thought I'd indulge ..

      • Re:Colossus (Score:3, Interesting)

        by ktakki ( 64573 )
        Now, if you want to talk about mechanical computers, what I *really* would like to see, if it's even possible, is a working model of Babbage's Analytical Engine. ;-) Probably not possible, since very few of his drawings survived, but it would still be fascinating to see that machine run .. bit offtopic, I'll agree, but thought I'd indulge ..


        In hardware [colorado.edu] or software [fourmilab.ch]?

        k.

      • Re:Colossus (Score:5, Informative)

        by choco ( 36913 ) on Saturday September 29, 2001 @06:53PM (#2369217) Homepage
        Oh Dear! I don't really know where to start putting the facts right here.

        >Polish intelligence was using a device called the "Bombe" to automate (to some extent) cracking a 3-wheel Enigma.

        Polish intelligence knew about Enigma and smuggled a copied machine to the British. Subsequently the British managed to get hold of some genuine machines. This is how they started their attempts to crack the code. The detailed wiring of the rotas was a very important factor.

        Initially the British intelligences used a a variety of manual methods to break Enigma. mostly based on squared paper and paper strips. These were based on the weakness that a letter would never be encoded as itself - they also took advantage of some sloppy operating procedures by the German encryption clerks.

        Latter the British built Bombes to routinely crack enigma.

        Colosus was not invented to crack Enigma - but was built to crack a different system of encryption - the one used by the German High command.

        Those wanting to know more should read "The Ultra Secret" - which gives a history of what went on at Bletchly park from a historical POV - with limited details about how the code was cracked - but a lot of information about what was obtained and how it was used.

        -------------

        My facts come from :

        1) Bletchly Park is 30 miles north of here and the exhibition there is very informative.

        2) My aunt was one of the WRENS who maintained and operated the Bombes at Bletchly Park during WW2. It annoyed by Grandfather until his dying day that my Aunt always refused to discuss anything at all about what she did during the war.She only told the rest of the family when "The Ultra Secret" was published.

      • what I *really* would like to see, if it's even possible, is a working model of Babbage's Analytical Engine

        FYI, here is a review [washingtonpost.com] of a recent book entitled The Difference Engine by Doron Swade that addresses some of the issues you raise.

        A collection of Babbage links is here [reading.ac.uk].

    • The Colossus was built to solve a completely different cipher
      than Enigma (Lorenz IIRC) and had nothing to do with Turing, who
      had long since left England to live in the USA.

      Cracking the Enigma (quickly) was made possible with a far
      simpler machine known as the "Bomb", which was designed and built
      by Turing but doesn't really qualify as a computer as it is not
      programmable.

      Tommy Flowers was indeed involved with Collosus, but the
      significance of his involvement is often overlooked. Flowers
      actually designed and built the Collosus almost single handedly
      (in order to match the requirements presented to him by Max
      Newman.)

      It is worth repeating, Turing had nothing to do with Collosus or
      the cracking of the Lorenz cipher.

  • Re: Background, please (Score:5, Informative)

    by none2222 ( 161746 ) on Saturday September 29, 2001 @06:19PM (#2369136)
    The BBC article was kinda light on details . . . care to give more in-depth info about the Enigma Machine?


    Certainly.


    The Engima story is quite interesting and complex; volumes can and have been written about it and it's beyond the scope of a Slashdot post to relay the full history [jhu.edu]. But I've provided some links [nsa.gov] if you're curious.


    It should be noted that Bletchley Park's work [us.net] in deciphering the Enigma [us.net] codes - used by the Germans to direct operations including U-boat attacks on Allied convoys - proved vital to the outcome of the WWII.



    Bletchley Park [bletchleypark.org.uk], code-named Station X, employed teams of mathematicians, linguists and chess champions during the war.


    By the end of 1945, 10,000 people worked there.



    With the help of decoding machines, the army of experts were able to crack the German code Enigma, which Berlin believed to be unbreakable.


    The work carried out at the top-secret centre is believed to have shortened the war by several years and was kept secret until 1967.


    The stolen [bbc.co.uk] device, an Abwehr Enigma G312, is a rare four-rotor version, one of only three still known to be in existence.

  • Unless he's reverse engineering the thing and still hasn't mapped out the wheel connections? ;-)

    It may be old technology, but I certainly would enjoy having a copy of an Enigma on the coffee table for guests to play with .. there are more ethical (not to mention legal) ways to get this information, but maybe he was trying to get a really good look at what was inside .. who knows?

  • Before we all start rewriting history again... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Rogerborg ( 306625 ) on Saturday September 29, 2001 @06:22PM (#2369148) Homepage

    Let's get it straight that Poland [ucsd.edu] cracked Enigma and built working devices from scratch, long before Turing automated the the decryption process at Bletchley, or Matthew McConaughey recovered the secret Death Star plans from R2-D571.

  • Obviously if there are only 3 in the world, htis machine was prety valuable (10000 pounds, i think?). The article was sparse with details, but i think it was stolen during public viewing day(?). That was clearly a bad idea, given the rarity of the item.

    Also, IANAL but since the machine was returned sans vital parts, the guy could've been charged with some other stuff, like vandalism or defacing government property or something similar. Stealing it was not a bright idea, since a machine like that is hard to sell without arousing suspicion, and is useless for anything else.
    • I once sat in a room (about 1977) with 23 Enigmas set up to show off to visiting spooks and spook-wannabees in Ottawa, Canada. They were of various models and capabilities, but MANY were 4-wheel models! Some worked, but some looked in poor repair. All had their wheels and spares - some with paper tapes and (German) operating manuals!

      Apparently most came off of captured WW2 submarines that were towed into Halifax harbour and disassembled for intelligence info. Canada kept the Enigmas but didn't bother to tell anyone. (They ended up at CSE in Ottawa.)

  • Is the enigma machine still a useful method of encryption? If not, wouldn't it fit better into some section about crime & punishment, antiques, historical objects, etc.?

    My basic question is, can you actually use the enigma for secure communications still?

    -Kasreyn
    • Yes, use the enigma system to encrypt your credit card details and post them as a reply to this message.

      Then we will see if it is still a valid encryption method :-)

      /me thinks symmetric cyphers which do not encode a letter as itself ever should be easy prey for any modern computer

    • Re:Encryption? (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      No, enigma isn't secure enough for anything serious these days. An enigma message could be decrypted in seconds on a Palm Pilot.

      On the other hand, you could use the DMCA to sue anyone who decrypted it without your permission. :)
    • IIRC, at least one early Unix used a variant of Enigma to encrypt /etc/passwd.

  • 3 rotor Engima applet (Score:5, Interesting)

    by nyjx ( 523123 ) on Saturday September 29, 2001 @06:35PM (#2369179) Homepage
    Pretty cool on-line implementation can be found at John Hopkins Univ [jhu.edu]. Source code is available to.

  • On a related note (Score:3, Interesting)

    by MSBob ( 307239 ) on Saturday September 29, 2001 @06:54PM (#2369221)
    There is a movie about Enigma out now in the UK. Unfortunately the movie is all fiction and gets many of the facts horribly wrong. One of the movies misrepresentations is "forgetting" that it was Polish scientists who first broke the Enigma encription and not the British. The other (which is quite disturbing) portrays one Polish guy as a traitor who tries to tell the Germans about the success of breaking Enigma. The movie caused a small scandal in Poland and will almost certainly hurt those remaining Poles who fought in the battle of Britain who still live in the UK and are now being portrayed in such ways. Bad Brittons! Bad!
    • Sigh. It seems that in WW2 movies the only way to get a reasonably accurate, non-rewritten version is to have the film made by Germans.

    • Ah well, at least we have movies like U571 to correctly tell us who was involved in the war.

    • Sounds like the movie is based on the novel "Enigma"
      by Robert Harris. This also has the polish spy (somehow
      weaving in a storry about the Katyn massacre on polish
      officers).
      But this book gets the part with the original invention
      of the bombes by the polish engineers right.
      There are some other smaller differences from tech
      details in the book, but overall it gives a good
      atmospheric idea about the time and proceedings.
      Maybe we should prefer not to be annoyed by the way novels and
      movies treat history, but too many people only hear
      about history through movies and novels.

  • Several downloadable Enigma simulations... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Robber Baron ( 112304 ) on Saturday September 29, 2001 @07:04PM (#2369233) Homepage
    There are links to many downloadable simulations here [www.xat.nl], including an Abwehr Enigma sim for Windows [home.cern.ch]. There even appears to be one written for Palm Pilot. [tripod.de]

  • Headline incorrect (Score:4, Informative)

    by dstone ( 191334 ) on Saturday September 29, 2001 @07:33PM (#2369292) Homepage
    Puhleeez, Slashdot, dramatic headlines are great, but when they come at the expense of truth, it gets to be a drag.

    Your headline reads: Man Pleads Guilty to Stealing Enigma Machine

    The story itself states clearly several times in the first few sentences: that he "admitted handling stolen goods" and that he "pleaded guilty ... to handling a stolen Enigma encoding machine". That's quite a bit different than admitting he stole them. It may well be a crime to handle stolen goods after the fact, and there's possibly a good story here also. But this guy didn't plead guilty to stealing it so the more interesting story of how/why it was stolen and by whom is still out there. Consider saving this headline for a later day...
    • But this guy didn't plead guilty to stealing it so the more interesting story of how/why it was stolen and by whom is still out there. Consider saving this headline for a later day...

      An article in the Guardian [guardian.co.uk] suggests that it was an inside job, intended to discredit the director of the Bletchley Park Trust, Christine Large, who had been sacked and reinstated in controversial circumstances. The full details of the theft have yet to emerge, but as they may be a long time in coming it makes sense to cover this development.

  • ...the country of Poland is being charged under the DMCA for creating a device capable of circumventing copyright. What they did was clear disrespect for the Nazi's intellectual property rights.


    "First they tell you you're wrong and they can prove it; then they tell you you're right but it isn't important; then they tell you it's important but they knew it all along." -Charles Kettering
  • I have an old amiga 500 laying about somewhere if they want spare bits to replace the ones in their amiga... anyone know where to send them?

  • And in other news... (Score:4, Funny)

    by neema ( 170845 ) on Saturday September 29, 2001 @09:01PM (#2369401) Homepage
    In the recent trend to link everything to Osama Bin Laden, many officals believe the Enigma was being used by Bin Laden as described before as his "High Tech Cryptography" that he switched to after he found out the US was monitoring his satellite phone conversations.

  • Perhaps slightly off-topic: Python has a builtin module, rotor [python.org] , that provides rotor-based encryption. The documentation says: "The design is derived from the Enigma device, a machine used during World War II to encipher messages." Cool! Take it for a spin:

    >>> import rotor
    >>> r = rotor.newrotor('secretkey')
    >>> print r.encrypt('squeamish ossifrage')
    w&BYåÐmÒ®--"L

  • 1) They're spinning madly away in the NSA's basement.

    2) They're being boxed into Lego Mindstorm kits.

    3) Or perhaps they're the driving force behind my own computer. No wonder my Seti@Home blocks take eight months each.*

    4) Scattered amidst the spare parts behind a defunct Yugo factory.

    * Consumer tip: Never buy a Celeron out of the back of a truck.
  • Authentic WWII encryption machines like the German Enigma as well as the Japanese and other code machines should be considered national treasures and treated as such. Equivalent to priceless ancient relics, artworks and historic documents.
    IMHO, During WWII there was a life-and-death race to cracking the codes that those type of machines created. Hence, the essential need of stronger computational power to break Enigma. Turing, et al worked creating techniques against Enigma and thus our computer science was born. The world would be a vastly different place today if it were not for breaking of Enigma and the like. Think about it.
    They are priceless examples of history and should be displayed with proper security.

    =bcc
  • That this case should come to court the day before the Enigma movie opened in the UK.
  • The feds took the enigma machine because they wanted the advanced crypto technology. If you look in side a carnivore you'll see cogs and bombe wheels and stuff... oh and it also has a little colossus emulator too. But then someone explained that terrorists genrally use quadruple-rot13 cyphers to plan their attacks, so the feds gave it back and now they use 'Bob's ROT-13 v1.0 Freeware'

    How long until the press write a story linking Bin Laden and the terrorists, Crypto Backdoors, and blaim it on the Enigma machine?

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