General information on cryptomachines.

If you like crypto machines you might find something of interest here:


First a word of advise:
The following pages assumes that you have some pre-knowledge of cryptomachines if you are to enjoy them. The information given, aren't always clear (my fault) and some pictures would probably help a lot. I have added a few pictures of some of the machines, which hopefully will give additional information to those of you who are interested in these things.

For the time being you can view a page devoted to the Hagelin cryptographer CX-52 (still a little under construction), and another devoted to the Swedish HC-9 Ciphering Machine. I have also added a third page describing the worlds - probably - oldest cryptomachine invented by the Swede Fredrik Gripenstierna in 1786. On a fourth page you can access some information on another Swedish design, the B-211, of which a pre-model was - luckily - chosen by the Swedish Armed Forces in the 1920-ies instead of the notorious German Enigma.
All these pages have a link to Qbasic simulation of the machine described, which you can download, dissect, and most probably improve to fit your own preference.

On the teletype cryptos page there are descriptions of an American WWI system and the German "Geheimschreiber", and "SZ 40/SZ 42", used during WWII, as well as a post-WWII Swedish teletype ciphering machine, the SA-1 (domestic use)/TA-1 (export version).
I have not yet made any Qbasic simulations of these, but that might change in the future.

If you are interested in the security and cryptanalysis of machines like the above, I recommend the excellent articles by H. Paul Greenough featured in the Cryptologia Journal (e.g. Vol. XXI/4 and XXIII/2). You will also enjoy the book Machine Cryptography and Modern Analysis (ISBN: 0-89006-161-0) by Cipher A. Deavours and Louis Kruh, which is by far the most educational I've ever read on the subject (I'm not paid to write this!).


© Torbjörn Andersson.Torbjörn Andersson Fecit