A Goldmine of GCCS and GCHQ Records (1914-1979)

The National Archives

Many thanks to Mike Cowan for a link to an internal sub-tree of The National Archives (UK) with a plethora of links to valuable cryptographic material related to the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) between the years 1914-1979.

Quoting from the web site, the site contains “general records of the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) relating to responsibilities for intercepting enemy communications, particularly during the Second World War, and for ensuring security of the government’s electronic communications“.

The records span the years 1914-1979 and included the following general categories:

• Senior management papers
• Soviet communications
• Japanese military communications
• Histories and personal papers
• German military communications
• Bulgarian, Croatian, French, Iranian, Italian Portuguese and Spanish communications
• Diplomatic, commercial and meteorological communications
• Liaison with allied organisations
• Communications security
• Field signals intelligence
• Technical matters
• Intercepted plain language communications
• Wireless Telegraph Section
• GC&CS Administration
• Research Section

For those with access to the National Archives in London, there is material here to keep one busy for years.

Serious about cryptanalysis? Learn a programming language!

Cryptanalytic program written in Perl

I’ve been a computer programmer since the early 70’s, about the time I became enamoured with cryptanalysis.  Writing computer programs to aid my cryptanalytic research has been invaluable to me throughout this entire period.  Sure, I have spent delectable hours solving ACA-type cryptograms by hand.  When I worked on more serious ciphers in university, however, computers have always been invaluable and time-saving.

Flickr-Based Cryptographic Photo Collections

You know how things work on the Internet.  A search for something in Google displays a link, which leads to another page, which leads to a third, etc.  Before you know it, you’ve discovered goldmines you never knew existed.

This past week I searched for “PURPLE” in Google’s image database (I think that’s what I did — it was oh so many link clicks ago ).  Perusing the booty uncovered a link to a link to a link etc. until I chanced upon some cryptographically-related photo collections on Flickr.  I have spent many an hour since enjoying the eye candy there and in other locations.  I’d like to share some of these sites with you.

No RSS Feed on a Site? No Problem!

I have a confession to make: I am a hi-tech late adopter with a high threshold for pain.  So long as I have a low-tech method for performing a necessary task, I’m content to use it, sometimes for years on end.

When I started this blog a few months ago I encountered many sites I wanted to monitor on a regular basis.  For example, I wanted to monitor several pages deep within the NSA web site for changes.  Unfortunately, most of these sites have a common problem: they have no RSS feeds.  So I used the same method I’ve used for years: periodic manual checking.

At some point even I threw up my hands.  The work involved in checking an ever-growing list of sites was becoming too painful.  At that point I searched for, and found, a better and free solution: ChangeDetection.com.  It’s changed my life and I’d like to share it with you.

ChangeDetection.com defines itself as follows:

At your request, we monitor any website page for text changes. If a change is detected we send you a notification email. We also maintain a log of recent changes to the page and allow you to see the difference between any two versions of the page.

After registering yourself with ChangeDetection.com, monitoring any Web page is simplicity itself.  Select the “monitor a page” option, enter a page address, give it an e-mail address to send notifications to, tweak optional features, and you’re done.  And you can monitor any number of pages to your heart’s content.

When any of your monitored pages change, you will be notified of the exact changes by e-mail.  The service also records the full history of this site, showing you all changes (or inactivity!) over time.

Another great feature is the ability to enable visitors to your web page to register for notification when your page changes.  If your site lacks a built-in RSS feed, if you’re too lazy to maintain one, or if you want to enable non-techie visitors to know when your page changes, just insert some HTML code that provides a simple-to-use interface (see my Chaocipher Clearing House site for such a feature).  You can even tell how many people are currently monitoring your web page.

Although I’m a late adopter, when I finally adopt some technological feature I know I need it and I’m happy with it.  ChangeDetection.com has changed my blogging experience, enabling me to concentrate on blogging,   Don’t leave home without it.

Foreign Language Text Recognition for the Layman

It’s not often that I looked at a foreign text and cannot determine what language it is.  We can all tell French, German, or Spanish, but what about the different Cyrillic languages, or Far Eastern ones like Thai and Vietnamese?  I recently came across something that might help us.

The US Army Field Manual 34-54 on Battlefield Technical Intelligence is freely available on the Web.  Here is a description of this manual as taken from the manual itself:

This field manual provides guidance to commanders and staffs of military intelligence (MI) and other units responsible for technical intelligence (TECHINT) or having an association with TECHINT. It provides general guidance and identifies the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) used in the collection, exploitation, and dissemination of TECHINT in satisfying the warfighter’s requirements.

Appendix G, entitled “Foreign Language Text Recognition”, is a concise and educational lesson on how to recognize a foreign language in unknown text.

Quoting from Appendix G:

When TECHINT personnel are able to correctly identify foreign languages used in documents or equipment, it has two immediate benefits. First, it helps identify the equipment or type of document and where or who is using it. Second, it ensures that TECHINT personnel request the correct linguistic support.

This appendix contains language identification hints that will enable TECHINT personnel to quickly identify some of the many languages used in documents, on equipment plates, and on other materiel. TECHINT personnel can speed up the entire battlefield TECHINT process by following the guidance herein.

For those of us who are, um, a little rusty and have forgotten the difference between a cedilla and a circumflex, this appendix will set you right.  Gone are the excuses for not recognizing a foreign language when you see one.

Easy Indexed Access to Declassified NSA/CSS Documents

The NSA/CSS Declassification Initiatives web page contains the following easily overlooked paragraph:

“An index of 4,923 entries containing approximately 1.3 million pages of previously declassified documents, which have been released to NARA is provided. The documents are from the pre-World War I period through the end of World War II.”

The links refers to a fascinating listing of cryptologic documents declassified by NSA/CSS in Project OPENDOOR (1996) and released to the U.S. National Archives and Record Administration (NARA) in Washington, D.C. In the very long, unsorted list one could easily overlook such gems as:

• William F. Friedman’s “Index of Coincidence and its Application to Cryptography” (# 504)

A Superb Cryptanalytical Guide to the Enigma Cipher Machine

Over the years I’ve come across many articles explaining how the Enigma cipher machine works. All too often I would feel, as a cryptanalyst, that many of the articles glossed over important features or handled them poorly.

Well, if you’re looking for an in-depth explanation of the Enigma, complete with a lucid mechanical description and mathematical underpinnings you can really sink your teeth into (and understand!) look no further. Check out Erik Vestergaard’s superb explanation of the Enigma’s mechanical, operational, and mathematical aspects. A Danish high school mathematics teacher, Vestergaard took his class on a study tour to London in 2007, and one of their stops included Bletchley Park. This site is a wonderful compilation of their experience in Bletchley, complete with mouth-watering, clear descriptions of how the Enigma works and how it was broken. Here’s a list of topics covered:

NSA/CSS declassified documents

The National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Security Service (CSS) periodically release declassified documents or indexes to these documents to the public.  This is all part of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) which allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States Government.

If cryptology and cryptanalysis are your cup of tea, just browse over to NSA’s Declassification Initiatives web page and dive in.   You’ll need a few hours to do this justice, so plan on returning a few times.

Here are some juicy finds:

Trumpet Your Successes

Some while back I read an interesting article by Mary K. Pratt on the ComputerWorld Web site entitled “Five things you should always tell your boss“.  As a software manager myself for more than a decade, I agree with the list of items in the article.  Item number 5, entitled “Your Successes”, triggered a memory.

My “Best Technical Article Opening Paragraph” Award

We’ve all read great articles written by talented authors.  You may have even written some articles yourself.  We are well aware of the holy grail of article writing: capturing the reader’s interesting in the opening paragraph.  It’s the difference between a forgettable article and one that will live forever in your readers’ minds.