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Battle Against the Machines: World War II 1939–1945

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History of Cryptography and Cryptanalysis

Part of the book series: History of Computing ((HC))

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Abstract

While the 1930s saw the first efforts to cryptanalyze the new cipher machines, the advent of World War II made this work must more imperative. The Enigma , the Typex and the M-134C/SIGABA were the epitome of these machines and the efforts to create and cryptanalyze them led us into the computer age. This chapter examines the race to break the ever more sophisticated cipher machines of the 1940s and looks in some detail at the cryptographic construction of the Enigma and the M-134C/SIGABA.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    U.S. Patent 6,097,812 granted 1 August 2000.

  2. 2.

    Patent 6,175,625, granted 16 January 2001.

  3. 3.

    Patent 6,130,946, granted 10 October 2000.

  4. 4.

    https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/historical-figures-publications/hall-of-honor/2010/gfeinstein.shtml

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Dooley, J.F. (2018). Battle Against the Machines: World War II 1939–1945. In: History of Cryptography and Cryptanalysis. History of Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90443-6_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90443-6_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90442-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90443-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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