CIA Code Fun!!

https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/games/break-the-code/index.html


This website is a great tool for learning and understanding codes. There are a few codes to choose from, and you have to crack the cipher! These games are appropriate for all ages and are interesting and fun. Try it!!

Bitcoin Technology

After reading the article about the new electronic currency called "bitcoin" I was intrigued and slightly frightened by this concept. Money that is transferred strictly by code without having to identify the origin of the currency sounds a little sketchy. This makes it very easy for criminals to illegally transfer money without being identified. The article even said there was a website where people could buy and sell illegal drugs only by using bitcoin. Overall, bitcoin is a cool concept, but it could lead to a lot of problems, probably many more than it would fix.

The National Cryptologic Museum!

The National Cryptologic Museum is the National Security Agency's principal gateway to the public. It shares the Nation's, as well as NSA's, cryptologic legacy and place in world history. Located adjacent to NSA Headquarters, Ft. George G. Meade, Maryland, the Museum houses a collection of thousands of artifacts that collectively serve to sustain the history of the cryptologic profession. Here visitors can catch a glimpse of some of the most dramatic moments in the history of American cryptology: the people who devoted their lives to cryptology and national defense, the machines and devices they developed, the techniques they used, and the places where they worked. For the visitor, some events in American and world history will take on a new meaning. For the cryptologic professional, it is an opportunity to absorb the heritage of the profession.


Did someone say field trip?!


http://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic_heritage/museum/

The Jefferson Wheel

This is a Jefferson Wheel, the topic of my final project poster. The give a brief preview of what my project is about, Jefferson created the disk without public knowledge. In the near future, others would create and patent similar wheels used for encryption, and Jefferson was never properly credited with the invention of this machine. Stay tuned to find out how the wheel actually works!!

Prison Break Puzzles

Recently, I was again watching an episode of Prison Break and couldn't help but think about the cryptology aspect of the happenings in the show. In this particular episode, a team is assigned to collect data on 6 cards hidden in different locations. One of the team members has a device that decrypts information on anything electronic within a certain distance, so the team merely has to be within a certain range of the cards to get the data off of it. They follow a card-holder into a casino in LasVegas and the device picks up the information on all of the machines in the room, so he knows exactly which machine is about to win.

Although this show is fiction (and sometimes referred to as Prison Fake), this episode made me wonder if such a device truly does exist, and if it does how threatening that would be to our personal privacy and security. The device was convenient for the team in the show, but it would be quite an inconvenience for ordinary people walking the streets with a phone or laptop!

Messing with Motors and Medicine?

After reading the articles posted on Moodle this week, some I realized some scary truths about what our world is coming too. I never even imagined having to worry about someone tampering with the system in my car to adjust the engine, brakes, or steering while I'm driving. This is a dangerous possibility, as we have no way of knowing when this could occur and we have no way of stopping it. Thankfully, according to the article, encryption devices are being created to stop hackers from controlling cars.


Another scary possibility that was brought to my attention is the fact that false commands can be sent to medical machines to hurt and potentially kill the patient using the machine. Though there is no record of this being attempted, it is a possibility that needs to be addressed and prevented. It is horrible to think about what hackers could do to innocent people in need. It's good we are taking precautions now, so these tragic events will never happen.

Pearl Harbor Pandemonium

In many books and articles, it has been speculated that messages containing information about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor had been decoded but not shared with the naval officers. If this were the case, many American lives could have been saved had the information been properly delivered. However, it is thought that the president wanted to enter the war and assumed this was the only way the American people would accept that, so he withheld the information from the public. Cryptology played a major role in finding out about the attacks, but according to written history, the code was so difficult it took a long time to crack and by the time they figured out the intercepted message, the attack had already taken place. If the code had been broken sooner, or if the information wasn't withheld, there could've been a very different outcome. What do you think really happened?

Ancient Egypt

Growing up, I learned a lot about ancient Egypt and the many wonders it held, such as pyramids, pharaoh's tombs, and hieroglyphs. I watched movies, learned how to draw symbols, and read both fiction and non-fiction on the subject. Now, as a college student, I am focusing on a unique perspective of the topic. For my final project, I will research the cryptology behind the hieroglyphs, which is something I haven't learned in the past. I am excited to gain new insight and perspective of the well-known ancient Egyptians.

David Stuart- Mayanist

At age 18, David Stuart was the youngest person to ever receive the MacArthur Award, which is more popularly known as the "genius award". Though Stuart was a very smart man, he had an advantage over other people working in the same field as him because he was exposed to the subject at a very young age. His father was the son of a Mayanist scholar and went on excursions with him from the time he was 8 years old. He would study the glyphs, draw them, and help decipher their meanings. He went on a trip with Linda Schele at age 12 and afterward wrote a scholarly article about his findings, which led to his receiving the MacArthur in 1984. Later, he earned his Ph.D in Anthropology at Vanderbilt University in 1995 and later taught at Harvard University. He has published many papers and books since then and still does work with the glyphs today. He is an incredibly smart man who made huge contributions to our knowledge of Mayan hieroglyphs.

The Mayan Language

The Mayan Language was once a mystery that seemed unable to be broken. However, with much tedious work, linguists and researchers have been able to crack the code and uncover a language that was thought to be lost. I was fascinated by the information I learned in the film we watched last week, and my interest was further fueled in class Friday when we wrote our own names in Mayan. Although we merely learned a small fraction of the Mayan language, it was cool to put words together using their glyphs and symbols. It allowed me to truly appreciate the time and effort they put into carving their glyphs, too. I was having trouble drawing a short phrase on a piece of paper... I can't even imagine having to carve much more complicated texts into cavern walls! Mayan isn't just a language- it's a work of art.

Using the Enigma Machine!

In class, we used paper machines to encode and decode messages in a way that emulated how Enigma machines worked. This was very complicated for most of the students, as the Enigma machine uses a complex system to encrypt messages. However, this activity enabled us to understand the fundamentals of the machine. To simplify the encoding process though, I found a website that quickly and easily allows anyone to encrypt any message via the Enigma machine. Try it out for yourself!


http://www.bletchleycovers.com/Virtual_enigma/Enigma_Machine_Applet.htm

A New Era

According to an article I read in Popular Science, a new code has been created that could possibly throw off hackers for good! Siemens, Austrian Research Centers and Graz University of Technology combined efforts to build the first quantum cryptology chip for commercial use. This chip uses a random sequence of numbers from light particles, as opposed to the current method of encrypting using mathematical algorithms which can be cracked with enough time and effort. The quantum cryptographic light lock uses photons to create a completely random code through an optical array of light, which is virtually impossible to break. It seems as if our electronic data can now be secure for good!

An Ongoing Battle

The most current war between cryptographers and cryptanalysts, in my opinion, has to do with the internet. Computer scientists are constantly creating codes to protect websites and online customer's personal information. At the same time, thieves and crooks are breaking down this software and accessing top secret information which allows them to steal people's identities. It is an ongoing battle, and hopefully the brilliant minds of the good guys will prevail. Until then, be very careful of what you put online. You never know who's breaking through internet security and accessing "protected" information!

A Brilliant Life Lost

In the last chapter of The Code Book by Simon Singh, a brilliant mind was introduced to the world of cryptology. Alan Turing was the cryptanalyst who, during World War II, identified the Enigma's greatest weakness and ruthlessly exploited it. It is because of his genius and work ethic that the Allies were able to win the war. Without him, they would have been set back months, maybe even years, and most likely would have lost the war.


Turing was born in Britain in 1912. His father was part of the Indian civil service, so when Turing was just over 1 year old his parents returned to India and left him in the care of nannies and friends until he was old enough to attend boarding school. In school he was shy and awkward and didn't have many friends, but he excelled in the subject of science.


His one true friend, Christopher Morcom, also had an interest in science. They motivated each other and fueled their intellectual curiosity. Turing had deeper feelings than just friendship for his friend, but Morcom was unaware of this fact. In fact, Turing never got the chance to tell him because Morcom died suddenly of tuberculosis in 1930.


Turing was devastated at the loss of his friend and lover, but his friend's smarts and determination inspired Turing to work even harder to succeed in science and live up to Morcom's ingenuity. The next year, Turing attended King's College at Cambridge and acquired an interest in mathematics. He is most well known for his mathematical paper titled "On Computable Numbers."


All of this hard work did not go unnoticed, and before Turing graduated he was invited to become a cryptanalyst at Bletchley, the headquarters for deciphering enemy encoded messages. There, Turing was extremely successful. He found ways to break messages sent via Enigma Machines by the Germans, which was previously believed to be impossible. He also created machines called bombes that analyzed and cracked codes sent through the Enigma. Though it was a team effort, Turing stood out at Bletchley as the most influential and brilliant person on the job.


Unfortunately, Turing's and everyone else at Bletchley's work had to remain anonymous, even after the wars end. They weren't given credit until much later, but by that point, Turing had sadly already died. In 1952, Turing was reporting a burglary and accidentally revealed to police that he was in a homosexual relationship. He was arrested and fined, and the incident appeared in newspapers. Turing was so humiliated, he took his own life by eating an apple he soaked in cyanide solution.


It is sad to think that such a brilliant and influential mind never got to experience the glory and honor he deserved for his noble work. Turing deserves recognition for his historical work, and it is up to us to recognize and remember his achievements that offered so much to this world.

Discovering Music

If ever there was something so personal that it seemed as if it was created for just one person, yet so well-known that it could captivate an entire culture, it would be music.  Music is a phenomenon that can evoke feelings for one person that are completely different from the next.  In a way, music is a type of code that each individual can decipher in a unique, personal way.

Because of this, there is no right or wrong process of breaking the musical code, as there are multiple outcomes for the same text.  Take a love song, for example.  Depending on the person listening, the context of the song could have a myriad of meanings.  Say the listener was recently proposed to by her life-long lover.  Obviously, the song will evoke sentimental, bubbly feelings of love and happiness and she will think of her fiance as she sings along.  On the other hand, a person who has just ended a long-term relationship with the man of her dreams might hear the same tune and break down in tears, unable to stand thinking about her lost love.  She would probably change the station and spend the next few minutes, hours, or days in a sullen state of depression.

But just as music can single us out, it also has the capability of bringing groups of people together.  All the individuals who find ways to relate to certain types of music find themselves congregating at events that revolve around their common interest, such as concerts, bars, performances, etc.  These people are drawn together as cryptanalysts of the same melodies, as code breakers of identical lyrics.  To some, music may just seem like noise, but to others, it is a language just waiting to be uncovered in one of many ways.  Music speaks, but it is up to the listener to hear what it is saying.

Child's Play

Children have curious minds, constantly growing and learning and thinking up crazy ideas that are sure to change the world.  Their imaginations take them from fairytales to foreign countries, from outer space to deserted islands.  They have locked diaries full of their deepest thoughts, and secret codes to share confidential information with friends. These codes, of course, are only understood among a select few, and can never be broken or understood by the outside world... or so they think.


I remember in my youth coming up with many secret codes and languages that my friends and I would try to communicate through.  There was one sequence of dots that made up the alphabet, and others that contained symbols representing individual letters.  At the time we thought we were so clever, coming up with unique patterns of letters that no one had ever thought of before.  Now, though, I realize how simple breaking these codes would have been just by using frequency analysis.  Not to mention that our cipher key was probably not well hidden or protected, so had we been writing anything of importance, it could've quickly and easily been figured out.


As kids, we have naive minds that make us think we are invincible, when in reality we are merely children with an imagination the size of the sky.  Many of the codes my friends and I conjured up as kids made no sense, or we ran out of new symbols 13 letters into the alphabet.  Our keys were disorganized and obvious, and we often got frustrated half way into the message, gave up on it and wrote in plain English. Despite this, we shared the same goal as many cryptographers have in the past and still do today.  This goal is to be able to write in such a language that no other being can decipher its meaning, and that goal is still trying to be reached today.  Cryptographers will always be attempting to attain this goal, and children will continue to believe they have created a top secret, completely original, totally unbreakable code.  And who are we to stop them?

Prisoners

Thinking back to the first day of class, I remembered the photo Professor Koss showed us online.  It was a photo of a prisoner of war, taken by the enemy to show the American people that they were treating their captives well.  However, the prisoner was giving the middle finger to the camera, clearly showcasing his resistance to his captors.  Though the enemies didn't understand the meaning of the hand signal, the American people did, and they understood that the prisoners were not being treated well and were not giving in to their captors torment.


Similarly, I was watching a show called Prison Break, and the plot involves the capture of two people for the purpose of blackmail towards the main character.  The main character won't do what the captors want until he sees a picture of them alive and well, so the captors agree.  The picture he receives shows them subtly pointing to a location and time on a newspaper, hinting at where they're being held captive.  The main character is able to locate them and attempts to rescue them, but unfortunately fails.


In both cases, the prisoners are subtly hinting something to their audience in an attempt to receive help in some way.  

3, 2, 1... Action.

Many films involve some sort of cryptography in their plot, some more complex than others.  The movie "Numbers" literally involves the solving of ciphers to prevent a tragedy, while other films subtly bring out decryption.  One film in particular that showcases many forms of encryption and code-cracking is called "National Treasure" starring Nicholas Cage.  The plot revolves around finding a lost treasure that has been sought after for decades.  The sole clue that leads to the secret hiding place was given to one of Cage's ancestors, and his family has been ridiculed for being 'treasure hunters' for many years, but that doesn't stop Cage and his team from pursuing the treasure.


The cryptography in this movie leads Cage's team all over the country, and even the world.  The first clue that has been passed down through his family leads him to a ship Charlotte located in the Arctic.  From there, Cage finds a pipe engraved with a riddle that he connects to the Declaration of Independence.  In an action-packed scene, Cage and his team steal the document and bring it back to their house to analyze it.  On the back, they find an Ottendorf cipher that they solve and relate to the Silence Dogood Letters that were written by Benjamin Franklin.  They have to count certain letters on each page to reveal another message that leads them to Independence Hall.  There, they uncover a pair of spectacles created by Franklin himself that allow you to view a map on the back of the Declaration of Independence.  It leads them to an old church, where they follow secret tunnels and uncover the lost treasure.


Overall, this movie is a nail-biter and keeps you at the edge of your seat.  It is full of action and suspense and involves critical thinking and cryptography.  I recommend it to anyone looking for a good, mind-bending movie!

A Code Rediscovered

Cryptology is an ever-expanding, constantly broadening subject that seems to become more complex as time goes on. That is why when I read this New York Times article, I was surprised to discover that a certain type of cryptography was discovered much earlier than originally published. It is a rather difficult type of cipher, which is why it is not used often, but it is very reliable and near impossible to break. The credit was given to the wrong people, as the original creator of the code never officially published his work. Steven Bellovin, a professor at Columbia and computer researcher, stumbled across a book with 'secrecy' in the title and discovered that the "one-time pad encryption" was credited to the wrong cryptographers. Though it seems like there are always new codes and patterns being created, sometimes it's the classic systems that are the most reliable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/26/science/26code.html?_r=1&ref=cryptography

Comfort Zone

Fear is a funny thing. It can take many shapes and forms and propel us to do things we'd never imagine ourselves capable of. But sometimes, it is the absence of fear that we should be most afraid of.


This was the dilemma of Mary Queen of Scots. While in prison, she sent encoded messages to a group of people working to free her detailing plans and revealing ill feelings toward her sister, Queen Elizabeth. She wasn't afraid of her secrets being discovered, for she trusted the man smuggling the encoded letters in and out of the prison and she believed her cipher could only be understood by those receiving the letters. She was wrong.


This is what was really happening: the man sneaking the letters in and out of her cell was bringing them to a team of cryptanalysts working for Queen Elizabeth, who would crack the cipher, decode the message, then reseal the original letter and send it on its way. Neither Mary nor her allies knew any of this was taking place; they didn't even think it was a possibility someone could figure out their cipher. That's the problem with cryptography-- when you think you have an unbreakable code, you aren't afraid of anything.


Eventually, Mary sealed her fate by sending a letter giving her permission to carry out a plan that acted against Elizabeth and her party. The cryptanalysts decoded it and finally had evidence that Mary was plotting against the throne and therefore could be given the death penalty. This must've come as a shock to Mary, who thought her messages were unbreakable.


When cryptographers believe they have an indecipherable text, they think they have nothing to fear and become comfortable sending and receiving messages at their leisure. This comfort zone is dangerous, and can lead to endings such as that of Mary Queen of Scots. So, when encoding messages, always be extra cautious and never get too comfortable with your ciphers. You could end up headless.

Advice from a "Friend"

According to the dictionary, advice is defined as "an opinion or recommendation offered as a guide to action, conduct, etc." We usually think of advice as the firm words from a parent, helpful suggestions from a teacher, or soft spoken guidance from grandparents reminiscing their past. Friends often give advice, too, in social situations and when dealing with every day drama. Some will hint at their advice gently, while others tell it to you straight. The character Regina George from the popular 2004 film Mean Girls fits the latter description of a friend. Throughout the movie, she bluntly gives her opinion to those around her, friend or foe.


One of Regina's closest friends, Karen Smith, is often in particular need of advice due to lack of social etiquette. In one scene, Karen is speaking to a girl who has just moved to her town from Africa, though the girl is not of African descent and is originally from the United States. Karen blatantly asks the girl, "If you're from Africa, why are you white?"


Use your Alberti Cipher Disk to decode Regina's blunt response!


Index: G


o_fg&vhe_gcerem_ynxyvni_ _dr_h_nht_brh!


( _=letter not on cipher disk)


*there were a lot of letters that didn't appear on the disk so I hope it didn't come out too confusing and I hope i enciphered the text correctly!

The Ultimate Unbreakable Code?

Throughout history, codes have played a major role in communication between two or more parties that wish for their dialogue to remain strictly among themselves. From made up languages to mono- and poly-alphabetic ciphers, there have been many attempts to create a code that proves unable to be broken. Still today, codes appear in many places among literature, pop culture, and society in general. As it was in the past, there are cryptanalysts who make a living off deciphering messages that fall into their hands, and more often than not they are able to decode the text and reveal the secrets within. But is there actually a code that is unable to be cracked by certain cryptanalysts? I didn't believe so at first, but now it seems my opinion has changed.

Although they may not appear in the form of a cipher or encoded message, codes are present in many contexts we may not immediately recognize. Knowing this, I spent the past few days observing fellow classmates who seemed to understand and also speak a language that I myself take part in daily. This code is easily deciphered among some, but absolutely impossible among others. Though it is not a type of code we have discussed in class, this code is used around the world and is almost immediately recognizable to about half the population. This code is commonly referred to as none other than... girl code.

Girl code is a dialogue extremely well known among the female population, and, unfortunately for most women, much less understood by our male counterparts. Just one glance, a toss of the hair, or a barely audible sigh can speak volumes to those who are also familiar with the ever-affluent girl code.

For example, say you're in the caf getting lunch with some friends. You see a girl who previously upset you, but you exchange a tight-lipped smile in passing anyway. Girl to girl, you both understand that each is unhappy with the other, but it is not the time or place for a confrontation. However, if you're unhappy with a guy and the same sequence of events occurs, he would most likely assume all is forgiven and probably forget the entire incident in a matter of 10 minutes.

Little occurrences such as these as well as larger-scale "girl ciphers" lead me to believe that, in general, girl code is indecipherable amongst the male population. Though it is not true for all men, many find themselves in a bit of a pickle when trying to interpret signals from women in a multitude of situations. On a wide spectrum, girl code has only been broken by fellow girls, and it is up to men to become cryptanalysts of this foreign language. Whether or not men eventually breaking this code is a good thing is up to the women to decide... but we can cross that bridge when we come to it. Which, based on historical evidence, may take hundreds to thousands of years. So, ladies, have we created the ultimate unbreakable code?