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WWII Colossus Codecracker Outdone by a German

Posted by Zonk on from the oh-irony-you-are-so-sweet dept.

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.'"

7 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. Irony? by SnoopJeDi · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's not irony! :(

  2. source code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    He posted the source code on his hompeage at http://www.schlaupelz.de/SZ42/SZ42_software.html.
    Most of it is written in Ada.

  3. Re:Well, there goes my by phillips321 · · Score: 2, Informative

    here's a pic of the rebuilt model if your wondering what it looks like:
    http://www.forumpix.co.uk/uploads/1195233120.jpg

  4. NO CODES WERE BROKEN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    None. None at all.

    ``Climb Mount Niitaka'' is a code. How can a computer break that,
    with no contextual clues?*

    Now, a cipher may have been broken... or at least, a cipher session key.

    * 1941-12-07

    1. Re:NO CODES WERE BROKEN by A+nonymous+Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you're going to be pedantic, I will too.

      1941-12-07

      Try -08. The Japanese military ran off Tokyo time, not local time.

      --
      Infuriate left and right
  5. Re:wait wait wait. by Bigjeff5 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ahhh, I see now.

    So basically the Germans have screwed themselves in regards to people within their own country testing their own security. (i.e. company hires individual to test encryption, etc)

    It seems that way anyway.

    Nice! Lots of forward thinking here. :P

    --
    Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
  6. Re:What was that about secret svcs? by HRogge · · Score: 2, Informative

    The German museum which did the sending part of the whole project had to borrow a Lorenz SZ42 encryption engine from England (because the Allies grabbed all of them after WW2). The English GCHQ (http://www.gchq.gov.uk/) feared that someone would call it war booty (sp?) and a court might decide they don't get it back.

    Same reason why the art taken by the Russians by the end of WW2 can never be shown outsite Russia... according to most countries laws they would have to confiscate it..