Public Invited to Try Their Luck Against Old Cipher Tech

Stony Stevenson writes to tell us that in celebration of the opening of the National Museum of Computing, members of the public are being challenged to take on a rebuilt version of Colossus, the world's first programmable digital computer. The Cipher Challenge will take two groups of amateur code breakers and pit them against one of the original Lorenz cipher machine used by the German High Command during World War II. "The encrypted teleprinter message will be transmitted by radio from colleagues in Paderborn, Germany, and intercepted at Bletchley Park by the two code-breaking groups, one using modern PCs and the other using the newly rebuilt Colossus Mark II."

Comments

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[hypermike]

46 69 72 73 74 20 50 6f 73 74 21

where was the cream filling!?

[blhack]

TFA didn't really explain the colossus that well:

Wiki link for those who are interested.

Re:where was the cream filling!?

[yahooadam]

"Why would they do this after the war? Wouldn't they want to explore the technology for other uses, and profit further from the leadership in this field they developed? I mean, what's the reason for hiding (and, worse, destroying!) their code-breaking machine after the war has ended?"
Maybe they were just trying to hide it

I mean, if people could get holds of the plans on colossus, and find out how the cipher was done, they could probably work out much more difficult encryption methods
if you think about it, colossus was the absolute peak of what we could do, if anyone got hold of that it would be a dangerous weapon

Its easier to deny something's existence if it doesn't exist

Re:where was the cream filling!?

[Ash Vince]

Why would they do this after the war? Wouldn't they want to explore the technology for other uses, and profit further from the leadership in this field they developed? I mean, what's the reason for hiding (and, worse, destroying!) their code-breaking machine after the war has ended? The main reason for the destruction was that we no longer needed the same number of machines. We did keep two though I believe which were moved to GCHQ (General Communications Head Quarters - Our eavesdropping department). We certainly did not destroy them all but much of what they did after the war will still be classified.

Re:where was the cream filling!?

[mlush]

The main reason for the destruction (of Colossus) was that we no longer needed the same number of machines. We did keep two though I believe which were moved to GCHQ (General Communications Head Quarters - Our eavesdropping department). We certainly did not destroy them all but much of what they did after the war will still be classified. I've heard scurrilous rumors that the Enigma (Do I really need to wiki link it:-) machines were sold on to other nations...

Public Event...

[BinarySkies]

We could make this into an excellent geeky sporting event... They'll be selling seats at the door for $7.50 apiece, a mascot of a giant padlock covered in binary will roll around the sidelines, and a bunch of cheerleaders will be dancing around cheering... safely behind plexiglass from the geekiest ones. Next, to sell this to ESPN...

+++ Spoiler +++

[Anne_Nonymous]

Drink more Ovaltine.

Re:+++ Spoiler +++

[Anonymous Coward]

SON OF A BITCH!

A real contest?

[mistersooreams]

The article doesn't explain how 1940s hardware competing with modern hardware is a remotely interesting contest. The reason is that the Collosus machines (Collosi?) were both highly specialised for the task, in that they could not do anything but simulate a Lorentz machine very fast, and of course massively parallel. In particular, Collosus was not Turing-complete, so it could not execute arbitrary programs (in the modern sense) - the honour of first Turing-complete machine usually goes to the ENIAC, although this is hotly disputed. So, this might be an interesting contest, although I would still expect a good modern implementation to win. More information, as always, at Wikipedia.

Re:A real contest?

[NeoSkink]

Z3 beat ENIAC by a couple of years.

http://www.zib.de/zuse/Inhalt/Kommentare/Html/0684/universal2.html

Re:A real contest?

[rts008]

"The article doesn't explain how 1940s hardware competing with modern hardware is a remotely interesting contest."

Without it being spelled out to me, I am thoroughly taken with this idea. (only true computer geeks need apply, basically)

I think it would be cool to participate in this, but I would especially like to be on the Collosus team just to get to play with this icon of computer geekdom. I suspect that the modern pc's could smoke Collosus (with the right setup), but this gives a chance to gauge our progress, compare apples and oranges like only a comp. geek can, and otherwise rejoice in our geekiness.

So admittedly, this isn't interesting for just anyone-even here on /. , but to some of us, this is just too much fun/interest to pass up.

We see quite a few stories about comparisons between PS3 'super computers' pitted against older supercomputers, we see ad hoc distributed systems compared to older super computers, so why not modern PC's compared to The Super Computer that started it all. (okay, that last bit may have been over the top, and not real accurate...but come on man!)

On the Spock Scale, I rate this one as:
*raised eyebrow*'Fascinating, Captain.'

Re:A real contest?

[McSnarf]

*The article doesn't explain how 1940s hardware competing with modern hardware is a remotely interesting contest.*

I had the luck to visit the Bletchley Park facility earlier this year. (Are you a True Geek? Do the same. They need the money and I mean that.)

That piece of '40s hardware might look like a crossbreed of a Wells time machine and a phone exchange, but it was (the replica is) incredibly fast. At one very specific task only, solving one of a class of problems. Do not overestimate the speed of a modern PC - it is kept back by years and years of inefficient programming. The people working on Colossus were Real Programmers of the first order (no quiche!). I'd expect the race to be pretty close.

Whats the Frequency, Kenneth?

[Subgenius]

No, seriously. Having a bunch of RTTY gear over here, this might be a fun Thursday diversion....

The abacus is greater then the sword

[king-manic]

WWII might have been a great deal more expensive in terms of humans lives, duration, and overall destruction is it wasn't for the people at Bletchley park and their counterparts in the US Army Signals Intelligence Service. It's unfortunate that their contribution remained a secret for so long. Imagine how much damage Yamamoto could have done if his strategies and feints weren't all known to the Americans or if all the German troop movements weren't deduced from their communications.

Re:The abacus is greater then the sword

[initialE]

Isn't it a shame that the treatment of Alan Turing after the war drove him to suicide though, as though all of his contributions meant nothing to the people. All that mattered to them was that he was a homosexual.

Re:The abacus is greater then the sword

[king-manic]

Isn't it a shame that the treatment of Alan Turing after the war drove him to suicide though, as though all of his contributions meant nothing to the people. All that mattered to them was that he was a homosexual. He is truly the father of modern computing and he achieved a lot in his short life. He was monumental to the Allied war effort and a once in a generation math genius. It's really too bad the people of his time couldn't look past his sexuality.

On a side note: I'm straight but I'd do Turing for the geek cred :D

Re:The abacus is greater then the sword

[kestasjk]

It's unfortunate that their contribution remained a secret for so long. At least you didn't take one of your best cryptanalysts and drive them to suicide by forcing them to take hormone injections or go to prison for the crime of being a homosexual, like we did in England. That's one way to treat a war hero.

Cipher Challenge Site

[markg11cdn]

More details on the challenge (and Colussus) can be found here : http://www.tnmoc.co.uk/cipher1.htm

At the same time as the international team receives the enciphered messages, radio amateurs around the world will be able to receive the same radio broadcasts and try their hand at decrypting it. It will be fascinating to see who completes the job first!

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[Neon Aardvark]

How dare you say that about my mother, she was a saint!

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[maxwell demon]

I'm obviously reading too much Slashdot: I knew the complete message after interpreting just the first 8 bits in the subject ...

Re:I can only hope that

[antifoidulus]

How is that even remotely on topic? Seriously, can we have at least ONE slashdot story where someone doesn't mention "**AA"(which is a misuse of splats and/or regexes anyway)? This is what happens when a site turns from 'news for nerds" to "message board of the pirate bay" I suppose.....

Old school

[Quiet_Desperation]

thisi sstil ltheb estan dmost unbre akabl ecode

Re:This machine was a hoax back then

[arevos]

Exacty. The Colossus Mark II is no more real than the so-called "Moon Landing", or the ridiculous fringe theory that the Earth is round.

Watch Out

[Wellington Grey]

"Colossus marked the beginning of the modern age of computing, a heritage that we are planning to preserve by raising £6m to establish a world-class facility at Bletchley Park," said Tony Sale, co-founder of the National Museum of Computing.

Watch out! Don't connect that thing to the internet -- your 40 year old version of Norton won't be any good. Wouldn't want to turn six million pounds into just another botnet zombie :)

-Grey

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[$RANDOMLUSER]

"Drink your Ovaltine"?

Re:01000110 01101001 01110010 01110011 01110100 00

[CrazedWalrus]

Bernard?

Museum of calulating machines

[ockegheim]

If mechanical calulators and computers interest you I highly recommend the Arathmeum in Bonn, Germany. There are machines from the 17th-20th centuries and you're allowed to try some of them yourself. Even my wife enjoyed it.

PC vs Colossus

[HW_Hack]

If the PCs are running M$ ..... my money is on Colossus

Germans borrowing German technology

[clacke]

A slightly ironic detail: It seems the Germans don't have any Lorenz SZ42 machines left, and they have to borrow one from the British GCHQ, while promising not to repossess it as war loot.