Toy Converted Into an Enigma Machine

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Toy Converted Into an Enigma Machine

Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday February 15, 2011 @06:12AM from the my-first-encryption dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Enigma machines (the machine Germans used to encrypt messages during World War II) are cool, both from the perspective of the technology behind them and the effort that went into cracking them. This project shows how to convert a toy from a second-hand store into an Enigma machine."

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Obligatory AYBABTU by intellitech · 2011-02-15 06:13 · Score: 0

All your message are belong to us

--
vos nescitis quicquam, nec cogitatis quia expedit nobis ut unus moriatur homo pro populo et non tota gens pereat.
A new source for Munitions! by sabt-pestnu · 2011-02-15 06:20 · Score: 1

Every child should have his own implements of war!
Oh, wait... they stopped putting it on the munitions list in what, 1992? Well how about toy rockets, then? Toy Rockets can be very dangerous in the right hands!
1. Re:A new source for Munitions! by stealth_finger · 2011-02-15 07:43 · Score: 1
  
  Toy Rockets can be very dangerous in the right hands!
  Or awesome!
  
  --
  Wanna buy a shirt?
  https://www.redbubble.com/people/stealthfinger/shop?asc=u
2. Re:A new source for Munitions! by hairyfeet · 2011-02-15 08:15 · Score: 1
  
  I'm waiting for them to ban model airplanes myself. After all if you mount a cam on one you could take pictures of....things! Terrorists could use pictures of things to plan...well...stuff!
  Seriously while this is a cool hack it shows that all that is really needed is a good imagination and the will to tinker to turn just about any CPU into something that could be theoretically useful to a foreign power or terrorist. After all that is kinda the point of Turning complete, isn't it? That a Turning complete machine can simulate any other Turning complete given enough time and/or cycles?
  
  --
  ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
3. Re:A new source for Munitions! by Anonymous Coward · 2011-02-15 09:33 · Score: 0
  
  Turing. Not turning.
4. Re:A new source for Munitions! by FilthCatcher · 2011-02-15 14:08 · Score: 1
  
  Or maybe he's discussing hand-crank-powered devices.
It would have been a lot cooler by joeflies · 2011-02-15 06:22 · Score: 5, Insightful

if the hack didn't involve sticking an arduino in it. When you add that part, it's not really a hack anymore, it's just a replacement cover for new internals.
1. Re:It would have been a lot cooler by zill · 2011-02-15 06:43 · Score: 1
  
  However without the Arduino they wouldn't have enough blog-creds to get on /..
  
  PS: What's a better alternative to "/.."?
2. Re:It would have been a lot cooler by Anonymous Coward · 2011-02-15 06:46 · Score: 0
  
  /. . /.
3. Re:It would have been a lot cooler by Anonymous Coward · 2011-02-15 06:50 · Score: 1
  
  PS: What's a better alternative to "/.."?
  Parent Directory?
  Or perhaps if that isn't what you meant, you could just not be lazy and type "Slashdot.".
4. Re:It would have been a lot cooler by Applekid · 2011-02-15 07:06 · Score: 1
  
  if the hack didn't involve sticking an arduino in it. When you add that part, it's not really a hack anymore, it's just a replacement cover for new internals.
  Complete agreement here. It's not so much converting a toy into an Enigma machine, it's using a toy as an interface to an Enigma emulator.
  
  --
  More Twoson than Cupertino
5. Re:It would have been a lot cooler by Anonymous Coward · 2011-02-15 07:55 · Score: 0
  
  Yep.. same sentiment here. He didn't re-purpose the toy, he gutted it.
6. Re:It would have been a lot cooler by DarwinSurvivor · 2011-02-15 08:46 · Score: 2
  
  parent directory is ../ (or just ..)
  /.. would be the parent directory of ROOT. so direct access to god?
7. Re:It would have been a lot cooler by tonique · 2011-02-15 10:01 · Score: 1
  
  No, it's SOIL.
  (Or SEED, but that doesn't exist any more.)
8. Re:It would have been a lot cooler by drinkypoo · 2011-02-15 19:18 · Score: 1
  
  What would make it cool would be if the device would work normally until you pressed some key combination. Which might be how it is, I only glanced over TFA. And even cooler would be if it used some kind of secure crypto. Solitaire?
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
How about an enigma machine made out of paper? by sean_nestor · 2011-02-15 06:33 · Score: 2

Could be fun for educational projects...
1. Re:How about an enigma machine made out of paper? by RealGrouchy · 2011-02-15 10:23 · Score: 1
  
  That's cool.
  The documentation could be clarified. I.e. Operation should start with:
  
  1a. Before encoding/decoding a letter, shift the right rotor up one space.
  1b. If the (up arrow) notch is in the window row (Row A), the next time you move that rotor, also move the rotor to its left.
  When you decipher the sample message, "QMJIDO MZWZJFJR," you learn the German word for "Ovaltine".
  - RG>
  
  --
  Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
Slightly off topic, but... by zill · 2011-02-15 06:41 · Score: 1

I sincerely apologize for combining anti-semitism, meme spewing, and off-topic all in one post, but I believe this image is relevant.
Oops by davegravy · 2011-02-15 06:50 · Score: 1

This project shows how to convert a toy from a second-hand store into an Enigma machine.
The only problem with that word is how closely it resembles the word: Enima
1. Re:Oops by ELCouz · 2011-02-15 06:53 · Score: 1
  
  You mean... Enema ?
2. Re:Oops by CheerfulMacFanboy · 2011-02-15 06:58 · Score: 1
  
  This project shows how to convert a toy from a second-hand store into an Enigma machine.
  The only problem with that word is how closely it resembles the word: Enima
  Don't tell Edward Nigma, or he'll riddle you with bullets. If he can figure out what you mean.
  
  --
  Fandroids hate facts.
3. Re:Oops by davegravy · 2011-02-15 06:58 · Score: 1
  
  Nope
  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=enima
4. Re:Oops by davegravy · 2011-02-15 07:01 · Score: 1
  
  Nope. Enima
  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=enima
5. Re:Oops by gknoy · 2011-02-15 09:04 · Score: 1
  
  ... Which would be a misspelling of the proper word for the same thing?
6. Re:Oops by The+Archon+V2.0 · 2011-02-15 11:56 · Score: 1
  
  We spend months bickering about reliability of Wikipedia articles and then someone comes along and cites the Urban Dictionary.
  Why do we even try?
7. Re:Oops by Anonymous Coward · 2011-02-15 12:08 · Score: 0
  
  What do Chuck Norris and a platypus have to do with it?
Misses most of the coolness by nedlohs · 2011-02-15 06:51 · Score: 4, Insightful

Which is the mechanical aspect. Doing it all in software just doesn't count.
Re:Used by the germans??? by keitosama · 2011-02-15 08:10 · Score: 1

No, they were used by the Germans as well as other countries.
Re:Used by the germans??? by Anonymous Coward · 2011-02-15 08:13 · Score: 0

ur wrong mate
Re:Used by the germans??? by gknoy · 2011-02-15 09:07 · Score: 1

The first Enigma was invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius at the end of World War I.[1] This model and its variants were used commercially from the early 1920s, and adopted by military and government services of several countries — most notably by Nazi Germany before and during World War II.[2] Several different Enigma models were produced, but the German military models, the Wehrmacht Enigmas, are the ones most commonly discussed.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine
The British captured an Enigma machine from a U-boat, and then cracked the code and used it to read a large amount of previously-secret German communications. Sorry, you basically had it completely backwards. :)
This is crude! by Virtucon · 2011-02-15 09:56 · Score: 1

It should have been done with Legos!

--
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Thanks a lot by PPH · 2011-02-15 11:30 · Score: 1

Now when I see my kids playing with their Speak n Spell I'll wonder if they have been recruited into a clandestine neo-Nazi organization.

--
Have gnu, will travel.
1. Re:Thanks a lot by Anonymous Coward · 2011-02-15 12:27 · Score: 0
  
  not a neo-Nazi organization, but they are being recruited for a clandestine operation known as 'growing up.
  The goal it to play your emotions like a fiddle while they drain your wallet.
2. Re:Thanks a lot by Born2bwire · 2011-02-15 18:16 · Score: 1
  
  "E-u-g-e-n-i-c-s... Eugenics."
  "Say it... Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuehrer."
No plugboard or Ringstellung so not really... by ozratman · 2011-02-15 19:07 · Score: 1

No plugboard or even a Ringstellung (inner ring settings) so not really a wartime enigma. It's only simulating the rotors of a pre war enigma that could be beaten by some bigram tables and/or a crib. Still top marks for a circuit bent crypto project.
MUNIX by Anonymous Coward · 2011-02-15 20:37 · Score: 0

MUNIX Super Root == /..
I couldn't concentrate on the video by Anonymous Coward · 2011-02-15 23:38 · Score: 0

All I could concentrate on was the fat breathing.
Ein Robert Reich by tepples · 2011-02-18 11:45 · Score: 1

Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Fuehrer
Ein Volkswagen, ein Robert Reich, Ayn Rand.