GERMAN ENIGMA MACHINE SERIES

The Enigma machine needs little introduction in most information security circles, as its relevance and importance to both information security and world history is well known. Daniel Molina, in Blackhatonomics, 2013 Hacking for the Greater Good The continually changing internal flow of electricity that caused the rotors to change was not random, but it created a polyalphabetic cipher that could be different each time it was used. Likewise, when enciphering, the operator would press the key and the illuminated letter would be the cipher text. The rotors would align and a letter would then illuminate, telling the operator what the letter really was. With a message in hand, the operator would enter each character into the machine by pressing a typewriter-like key. When the Enigma was in use, with each subsequent key press, the rotors would change in alignment from their set positions in such a way that a different letter was produced each time. The original position of the rotors, set with each encryption and based on a prearranged pattern that in turn was based on the calendar, allowed the machine to be used even if it was compromised.

GERMAN ENIGMA MACHINE SERIES

It employed a series of rotors that, with some electricity, a light bulb, and a reflector, allowed the operator to either encrypt or decrypt a message. Similar to the Feistel function of the 1970s, the Enigma machine was one of the first mechanized methods of encrypting text using an iterative cipher. The Enigma machine was a field unit used in World War II by German field agents to encrypt and decrypt messages and communications.

Ellis, in Computer and Information Security Handbook (Third Edition), 2013 Enigma

German enigma machine