[Infowarrior] - Detailed NSA article on Engima and cryptanalysis

[Richard Forno]

(c/o Schneierblog)

About the Enigma

As the German military grew in the late 1920s, it began looking for a better
way to secure its communications. It found the answer in a new cryptographic
machine called "Enigma." The Germans believed the encryption generated by
the machine to be unbreakable. With a theoretical number of ciphering
possibilities of 3 X 10114, their belief was not unjustified.1 However, they
never reached that theoretical level of security. Nor did they count on the
cryptanalytic abilities of their adversaries.

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http://www.nsa.gov/publications/publi00016.cfm