Technology & The Enigma Machine

The Enigma machine is actually one of the best thing I ever seen in my life... I know now is just an antique, but at the time it was one of the most incredible devices ever builted for its complexity, the extreme safeness of its encrypted messages and its handiness.

Exploded structure of a rotor

Let's dig a little bit deeper into this machine: the principal compontents of the first machine presented by Arthur Scherbious consisted of  a keyboard, a plugboard, 3/4 rotors, a reflector and a lamp display pannel.
The machine workedpretty much in the following way: the operator press a character in the typewriter starting an electric impulse that is going to follow a certain pattern which is swapped when it passes into the plugbloard, then it goes trough the rotors, come back thanks to the reflector and it light a lamp wich corresponds to a certain letter (result). Explained in that way it may looks that it is an easy code to break, but there is a lot more going on in that machine... in fact the rotors are not fixed in that position, but they change at each pression like the odometer does, meaning that the first rotors moves each   time, meanwhile the second one makes a step only after the first one has done an entire cycle, and the third one does the same with respect to the second one, moreover the plugboard disposition could have been changed and the first position of the rotors choosed freely. To sum up with all those basilar elements the machine already disposed of a number of possible combinations way big to be discovered in useful time.

Schematic representation of the classic enigma operation

And that it was just the classical machine, if we also consider the additional complexity given by the appendix devoloped later in time (which you can find in the previous post Secret Services & Patents: The Enigma Machine)  the number of possible combinations increases exponentially..

Here you can find other information about what was new in each evolution of the machine:

http://www.cryptomuseum.com/crypto/enigma/

And in this one a programme that simulates the operation

http://enigmaco.de/enigma/enigma_it.html

And now a little bit of humor...

The argument of this post is related to the one contained in Secret Services & Patents: The Enigma Machine

Sources:
[The Code Book, Simon Sing];
http://ciphermachines.com/enigma;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enigma_machine;
http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/content/machines.rhtm;
http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/enigma/;

Secret Services & Radio

Then at the fall of Paris, a radio transmitting station was set up on the cliff, antennas aimed at the Continent, themselves heavily guarded and their landlines back mysteriously over the downs to the house patrolled night and day by dogs specially betrayed, belted, starved into reflex leaps to kill, at any human approach.


With funding available for all manner of radars, magic 

torpedoes, aircraft and missiles, where was Pointsman in the scheme of things?

"Tides, radio interference, damned little else. There is no way for changes out there to produce changes here."

On the other side of the arch is a Russian jeep with a couple officers, one talking earnestly into the mike of his radio set, and the air between quickens with spoken Russian at the speed of light weaving a net to catch Slothrop.


At first he helped out in the propulsion group. No one was specializing yet. That came later, when the bureaus and paranoias moved in, and the organization charts became plan-views of prison cells. Kurt Mondaugen, whose field was radio electronics, could come up with solutions to cooling problems.


The Russians even had a guard posted on board for a while, till the Anubian ladies vamped them off long enough to single up all lines—and so the last long reprise of Polish homeland was on, across these water-meadows of the north, radio messages following them in clear one day and code the next, an early and shapeless situation, dithering between executioner's silence and the Big Time.

Russian transmissions come crackling out of ship's radio, and the static blows like sheets of rain.


The idea was always to carry along a fixed quantity, A. Sometimes you'd use a Wìen bridge, tuned to a certain frequency A{, whistling, heavy with omen, inside the electric corridors while outside, according to the tradition in these matters, somewhere a quantity B would be gathering, building, as the Rocket gathered speed. So, up till assigned Brennschluss velocity, "v ," electric shocked as any rat into following this very narrow mazeway of clear space—yes, radio signals from the ground would enter the Rocket body, and by reflex—literally by electric signal traveling a reflex arc—the control surfaces twitch, to steer you back on course the instant you'd begin to wander off.


But the blacks don't know what else Närrisch knew:
(a) there was a radio link from the ground to the S-Gerät but not the other way round,
(b) there was an interference problem between a servo-actuator and a special oxygen line running aft to the device from the main tank,
(c) Weissmann not only coordinated the S-Gerät project at Nordhausen, but also commanded the battery that fired Rocket 00000.
Total espionage. Bit by bit this mosaic is growing. Tchitcherine, bureauless, carries it around in his brain. Every chip and scrap belongs. More precious than Ravenna, something goes erecting against this starch-colored sky. . . .
Radio link + oxygen = afterburner of some kind.


The tail-section group has been on the radio all morning, trying to get a position fix, if the skies will only clear. So the assembly of the 00001 is occurring also in a geographical way.

[Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon]


Werner had been only fourteen years old then, but he was now eighteen, he worked at the Air Ministry, he hated the Nazis even more, and he had a powerful radio transmitter and a code book. He was resourceful and courageous, taking dreadful risks and gathering priceless information. And Volodya was his contact.


On his desk was a decrypt from the radio section, the German words pencilled letter by letter under the code groups. The message was from Werner.


Anticipating the outbreak of war, Volodya had long ago equipped his Berlin spies with clandestine radios and code books. Now it was more vital than ever that the handful of brave anti-Nazis should continue to pass information to the Soviets. Before leaving he had destroyed all records of their names and addresses, which now existed only in his head.


At home, Chuck had not said much about the navy, no doubt because their parents were still angry with him for not going to Harvard. But alone with Woody he opened up a bit. ‘Hawaii is great, but I’m really disappointed to have a shore job,’ he said. ‘I joined the navy to go to sea.’
‘What are you doing, exactly?’
‘I’m part of the Signal Intelligence Unit. We listen to radio messages, mainly from the Imperial Japanese Navy.’
‘Aren’t they in code?’
‘Yes, but you can learn a lot even without breaking the codes. It’s called traffic analysis. A sudden increase in the number of messages indicates that some action is imminent. And you learn to recognize patterns in the traffic. An amphibious landing has a distinctive configuration of signals, for example.’


We can also figure out where the signal originated, by triangulation. Given locations and the call signs, we can build up a pretty good picture of where most of the ships of the Japanese navy are, even if we can’t read the messages.’
‘So we know where they are, and what direction they’re taking, but not what their orders are,’ said Gus.
‘Frequently, yes.’
‘But if they wanted to hide from us, all they would have to do is impose radio silence.’
‘True,’ said Vandermeier. ‘If they go quiet, this whole operation becomes useless, and we are well and truly fucked up the ass.’
[...]
Gus frowned. ‘Radio silence. Has that ever happened before?’
‘Yes. Aircraft carriers go quiet when they return to home waters. So we assume that’s the explanation this time.’


Chuck was assigned to the radio room, a sensible posting that made use of his experience in
handling signals.

[Winter of the World, Ken Follet]

As it appears from the quotes extracted from the books radio had a great importance during World War II under multiple aspects, like checking enemies position (triangulation and radar) and actions (traffic analysis and signal configurations), controling the coasts, comunicating with other meber of the army or with a Soviet spy in Berlin and to control a missile and keep it on the route. There where though few problems about interferences and the fact that it can be easily tracked down.

If you wanna know more about history and functioning of Marconi's creature  check the links below:
http://s194214.blogspot.it/2013/05/la-radio.html (italian version by Alessia Rosace, 'Tecnologia e Comunicazione' blog)
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio (english version - Wikipedia page on the radio as a technology feature)



About triangulation...in the link below you can find a video about triangulation method and its aplications in time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYBbVNpMlUU


The image presents the general idea if this tracking technique










In the links below you can find more info regarding the Traffic Analysis:
http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/tech_journals/intro_traffic_analysis.pdf (NSA introduction document)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_analysis (Wikipedia presentation of its applications in the military field during WWI and WWII)

Woman radio Operator during war times

SIS, aka MI6...A little bit of History

As I've already said in the post Secrecy...Pro & Con cryptography departements have a story that dates back in ancient times...but if it's of proprer organizations, meaning agency, that we're talking about, the're first appereance is way more tardive....In particular, in the case of the SIS, the foundation year, as reported by the agency itself, is the 1909 with the Name of Secret Services Bureau, as a response to the continuous and threatening expansion of the German military and naval army, but its exhistance hadn't been revealed until the 1994 even if rumors were already spread by the publication of the literary succes of the James Bond Series by Ian Flemming.

Actually there were already multiples sign of activity since the late 15th century, at the time of  Tudors: there were infact powerful names like Cromwelles, which was intercecting messages in the country and abroad for Henry VIII, and Sir Francis Walsingham, Private Secretary for Elizabeth I, which discovered the conspiracy against the Queen directed by Mary the queen of Scots...
(further description about this episode can be found in the first chapter of The Code book, by Simon Singh)


The SIS is a the military inteligence section 6 (MI6), and it is divided its self in braches in which  the S.O.E. (Special Operations Executive) was included and that still includes the G.C.H.Q, the unit responsible for Signal Inteligence (SIGINT) and information insurance, and the G.C.&C.S., the code-breacking division creating during the WWII.

If you want to discover all the incredible men who took the lead of this incredible department:
https://www.sis.gov.uk/our-history/previous-chiefs.html

It is possible to find more information about the Historical Events affected by the work of the SIS checking the two links below:
https://www.sis.gov.uk/our-history.html
http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=3683
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_Intelligence_Service

Or in alternative in the book
MI6: The history of the Secret Inteligence Service from 1909-1949, by Prof. Keith JEFFERY,  [click on the title for a preview]

The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS)...Books' Point of View

Following a list of quotes from both books but all regarding the same argument: the SIS organization, also known as S.O.E., or MI6 or The Firm (just in Pynchon's book)...Enjoy...

Pirate Prentice is a strange talent for—well, for getting inside the fantasies of others: being able, actually, to take over the burden of managing them, in this case those of an exiled Rumanian royalist who may prove needed in the very near future. It is a gift the Firm has found uncommonly useful: at this time mentally healthy leaders and other historical figures are indispensable. What better way to cup and bleed them of excess anxiety than to get someone to take over the running of their exhausting little daydreams for them ... to live in the tame green lights of their tropical refuges, in the breezes through their cabanas, to drink their tall drinks, changing your seat to face the entrances of their public places, not letting their innocence suffer any more than it already has ... to get their erections for them, at the oncome of thoughts the doctors feel are inappropriate


So of course when Pirate makes the mistake of verifying the fantasy with Loaf, it's not very long at all before higher echelons know about it too. Into the dossier it goes, and eventually the Firm, in Their tireless search for negotiable skills, will summon him under Whitehall, to observe him in his trances across the blue baize fields and the terrible paper gaming, his eyes rolled back into his head reading old, glyptic old graffiti on his own sockets. . . .
The first few times nothing clicked. The fantasies were O.K. but belonged to nobody important. But the Firm is patient, committed to the Long Run as They are.


Novi Pazar, anyhow, was still a croix mystique on the palm of Europe, and EO. finally decided to go to the Firm for help. The Firm knew just the man.


Early in 1939, he was discovered mysteriously suffocated in a bathtub full of tapioca pudding, at the home of a Certain Viscountess. Some have seen in this the hand of the Firm.


It's as useful to him as he is to the Firm—who, it is well known, will use anyone, traitors, murderers, perverts, Negroes, even women, to get what They want. They may not've been that sure of Pirate's usefulness at first, but later, as it developed, They were to grow very sure, indeed.


His best guess is that Mexico only now and then supports the Firm's latest mania, known as Operation Black Wing, in a statistical way—analyzing what foreign-morale data may come in, for instance— but someplace out at the fringes of the enterprise, as indeed Pirate finds himself here tonight, acting as go-between for Mexico and his own roommate Teddy Bloat.


There's now been no word of Slothrop for nearly a month, since the fumbling asses in military intelligence lost him in Zurich. Pointsman is a bit browned-off with the Firm. His clever strategy appears to've failed


No  one has ever left the Firm alive, no one in history—and no one ever will.

The Firm know perfectly well that you've come here. They'll expect a full report from you now. Either voluntary or some other way.

They will not understand, the gently bred maniacs of S.O.E. ah very good, Captain rattling sitreps, shuffling boots, echoes off of Government eyeglasses jolly good and why not do it actually for us sometime at the Club. . . . Pirate wants Their trust, the good-whisky-and-cured-Latakia scent of Their rough love.

Well: he guesses They have euchred Mexico into some such Byzantine exercise, probably to do with the Americans.

Like every young man growing up in England, he was conditioned to get a hardon in the presence of certain fetishes, and then conditioned to feel shame about his new reflexes. Could there be, somewhere, a dossier, could They (They?) somehow have managed to monitor everything he saw and read since puberty . . . how else would They know?

Everybody was waiting around for a Captain Prentice from S.O.E. (those
prickly bastards take their time about everything), who does presently show up. Slothrop
gets a glimpse— windburned face, big mean mother. Prentice takes the cylinder, drives
away, and that's that.

Pirate Prentice of the S.O.E. came back with the first hard intelligence that
there were indeed in Germany real Africans, Hereros, ex-colonials from South-West
Africa, somehow active in the secret-weapons program

Squalidozzi did show up again though, in Bremerhaven. He had just been chased
across what was left of Germany by British Military Intelligence, with no idea why.


For some reason now, she who never laughs has become the top surface of a deep,
rising balloon of laughter. Later as she's about to go to sleep, she will also whisper,
"Laughing," laughing again.
He will want to say, "Oh, They let you," but then again maybe They don't. But the Katje
he's talking to is already gone, and presently his own eyes have closed.

[Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas PYNCHON, ]


Also there, to Lloyd’s surprise, was Major Lowther, who had been in charge of the intelligence
course at Tŷ Gwyn, and had been snootily disapproving – or perhaps just envious – of Lloyd’s
friendship with Daisy. 
Lloyd knew that Lowthie had been posted to the British Embassy in Madrid, and guessed he
worked for MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service, but he would not have expected to see him this far from the capital.

[Winter of the World, Ken FOLLET]


The argument of this post is related to the ones contained in Maps & Secret Services, The Art in the Agency and in SIS, aka MI6...A little bit of History.

Spie (Spies)...La Piazza Universale 2.0

They always told me that life never stop to surprise you...Today I got another proof of the truthfulness of this statement... few days ago I was surprise to find even one match between secret services and occupations in the Renaissance period, and now I've just found another one!! As it looks from this document the spy work was already diffused and despited at the time of Tommaso Garzoni...

If it was...

Our Professor V. Marchis proposed us a new challenge to face in building the structural base of this blog... It consist in chosing a single paint, song and movie that could fully describe our blog. Sadly for me, I haven't figured it all out yet, but for now I can present you my idea of which is picture that  in my mind correspond  to a visual transfiguration of my blog: the Gioconda by Leonardo Da Vinci

Gioconda, by Leonardo Da Vinci, Musée du Louvre, Paris

My connection might result a little bit illogical or unfounded to some of you, due to the great time and topic lapse, but I can assure you that there are few interesting links between the two elemets.

First of all they are both an incredible example of the Technique: the Gioconda painting is a demonstration of the amazing drawing and painting skills of the author Leonardo da Vinci, of his innovative genius: like the use of the sfumato, a method that consinsts in making a a subject blend in what is sorrounding it, by not drawing the outlines. The evolution lies in the presence of the atmosphere as a visual element of the painter's original perception of the reality.
On the other side secret services are the maximum expression of technology in terms of prototypes, since all new inventions pass under the army's supervision before being patented to see if they can be of military interest; in terms of security since they can boast he newest and most advanced instruments to encrypt and break codes, really usefull when it comes to understand others movement, to built an advantage in war time and prevent unpleasant situations that could put an end to a peaceful period; and in terms of organization since they control an entire system of many agents, spread all around the country taken into consideration and most probably all around the world, with different capabilities to absolve multiple functions.

Another common pecularity is given by the mistery halo that surround them: in the first case the enigma around the subject, the painter's choices about the eyes, the pose of the body, the ambiguous facial expression etc, in the other one due to the need of absolute secrecy in treating classified data like undercover agent identities and witness protection programme information.
I don't think it is wrong to think that it's just that not knowing, those secrets that concern them is the real cause of a such great media interest, like for example literary and cinematographic productions such as  The Da Vinci Code and the series of 007 by Ian Fleming.

        
 

Cifranti (Ciphers) ... from "La piazza Universale di tutte le professioni del mondo"

When professor V. Marchis told us about "La piazza universale di tutte le professioni del mondo" by Tommaso Garzoni,last week, and suggested a research inside of its list of occupations duringof the rinascimental period  to see if there were ancestors of our blog carachters, I was actually quite skeptical about the results of my search, but never say never in life!! I found a match in the very first page of the list even if it took quite a while to understand the font and words but here I am, so... enjoy these extract..

The paragraph regarding Ciphers starts from "Scriurono.." and it talks about coded messages, hidden messages under wax layer, or written on some messenger's head (similar techniques were already discussed in the post  entitled Coded Messages), or with particular inks that would have become visible after executing of a certain procedure...

Coded Messages

It always have been clear to any king, emperor or government that keeping important messages and information from falling into hostile hands, is essential for the nation,empire or reign sake in both peace and war periods. That's why each one of them has created cryptography departement since ancient times.

Following I present two tecniques for coding messages mentioned in Pynchon's book. Actually these two example refer more to Steganography rather then Criptography, which is a less efficient way to keeping a message secret, because the message is just hidden...once it's discovered it can be easily read by anyone. A solution to this problem could be combining the two techniques, creating multiple issue to deal with in forcing the message as in the Kryptosam example (last quote).

Code messages in a dozen Slavic tongues were being tattooed on bare upper lips over which the
operatives then grew mustaches, to be shaved off only by authorized crypto officers and
skin then grafted over the messages by the Firm's plastic surgeons .. . their lips were
palimpsests of secret flesh, scarred and unnaturally white, by which they all knew each
other.

Teddy Bloat's [...] packing inside his stylish kangaroohide musette bag and threaded
around the odd necessities— midget spy-camera, jar of mustache wax



"Kryptosam" is a proprietary form of stabilized tyrosine, developed by IG Farben as
part of a research contract with OKW. An activating agent is included which, in the
presence of some component of the seminal fluid to date [1934] unidentified, promotes
conversion of the tyrosine into melanin, or skin pigment. In the absence of seminal fluid,
the "Kryptosam" remains invisible. No other known reagent, among those available to
operatives in the field, will alter "Kryp-tosam" to visible melanin. It is suggested, in
cryptographic applications, that a proper stimulus be included with the message which
will reliably produce tumescence and ejaculation. A thorough knowledge of the
addressee's psychosexual profile would seem of invaluable aid.
—prof. dr. laszlo jamf, "Kryptosam" (advertising brochure), Agfa, Berlin, 1934

Enough sperm saved, though, to rub over the blank scrap  enclosed with the picture. Slowly then, a revelation through the nacreous film of his seed,  in Negro-brown, comes his message: put in a simple Nihilist transposition whose keywords he can almost guess.

[Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon]

The Nihilist Transposition is a real cripthography sample, where letters are turned into other using a row column transposition, following the pattern dictated by a Polybius square built on the base of a wordkey. Initially created by Russian spies it has been adopted also by the heads of the KGB

If you want to get into the Nihilist Transposition to know more or even learn how to use it for sending your secret messages go on and check these link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilist_cipher
http://www.cryptogram.org/cdb/aca.info/aca.and.you/chap08.html#NIHITR

Further explanations about the difference between Cryptography and Steganography are given in the book  The Code Book, by Simon Singh, a book that I've already mentioned in the post Secrecy...Pro & Con

Minicameras...micro optics at the service of the spies

Teddy Bloat's [...] packing inside his stylish kangaroohide musette bag and threaded
around the odd necessities— midget spy-camera


Tacked to the wall next to Slothrop's desk is a map of London, which Bloat is now busy
photographing with his tiny camera [...] It takes him four exposures, click zippety
click, my how very efficient at this he's become

Quotes from Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

He has access to the entire battle plan for Case Blue. We know something about it, but Moscow
needs the details.’
Frieda was making a bewildering set of assumptions, but Carla went along with it. ‘I can ask him .
. .’
‘No. You have to make him bring you the battle plan.’
‘I’m not sure that’s possible. He’s not completely stupid. Don’t you think—’
Frieda was not even listening. ‘Then you have to photograph it,’ she interrupted. She produced
from the pocket of her uniform a stainless-steel box about Infthe size of a pack of cigarettes, but longer
and narrower. ‘This is a miniature camera specially designed for photographing documents.’ Carla
noticed the name ‘Minox’ on the side. ‘You’ll get eleven pictures on one film. Here are three films.’
She brought out three cassettes, the shape of dumbbells but small enough to fit into the little camera.
‘This is how you load the film.’ Frieda demonstrated. ‘To take a picture, you look through this
window. If you’re not sure, read this manual.’

Quote from Winter of the World by Ken Follet

Miniature cameras have revolutionized the world of espionage making some missions much faster to accomplish, but equally dangerous, and the data obtained from them more reliable and accurate.

If you're interested in miniature cameras, into their evolution, their structure and their application on the espionage field go ahead and check the link below:

http://www.faqs.org/espionage/Bl-Ch/Cameras-Miniature.html


P.S. In this blog as you can see I added a quote coming from another book which plot is set more or less in the same historical period of Gravity's Rainbow.
It is Winter of the World by Ken Follet, second chapter of the Century Trilogy, preceded by Fall of Giants. They are both historical thriller ad I found them amazing and really catching. Their dimension exceed the 800 pages, but the narration is fluent, so I haven't really felt the weight, except for the physical one!

Continues...

Secrecy...Pros & Cons

I know I should have already finished, but there is one last thing that I wanted to add and then I'm done with preambles... the major hindrance in tackling the world of secret services is the secrecy itself... and to better explain it I added a quote taken from the Introduction of The Code Book by Simon Singh, that it's actually referring to cryptography but I think that can also be extended to the secret services in general:

" The science of secrecy is largely a secret science. Many of the heroes in this book never gained recognition for their work during their lifetimes because their contribution could not be publicly acknowledged while their invention was still of diplomatic or military value. This culture of secrecy continues today, and organizations such as the U.S. National Security Agency still conduct classified research into cryptography. It is clear that there is a great deal more going on of which neither I nor any other science writer is aware"
[The Code Book, Simon Singh]

With these words I don't mean to absolve my self from my duty...I'm just trying to explain why many information, that I'm going to publish, will not cover the most advanced tools now disposable or why they will not be completely exhaustive.

P.S. I  read the entire book two years ago and I found it so interesting that I based my final high school exam thesis on some of its chapters... so I highly recommend it to anyone, also because it deals with a topic that is growing strongly in importance nowadays.

Let's Get To It...

Let's start this completely new adventure (I've said new because is my first blog and not just a different one...so try to be clement at least at the very beginning). In these pages I will be chattering about the technologies developped and  applied to the field of secret services (as you've already probably guessed from the title) for my History of Technology Course held by Professor Vittorio Marchis at the Politecnico of Turin.
This year we had to choose a book from which to extract the theme of our discussion and I've decided to try my hand in reading Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

Seriously hoping that you will enjoy reading this blog at least a quarter of how much fun I'm having in writing it; I greet renewing our appointment to the next post.


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