Top Banner
German Spy Ciphers in World War II Klaus Schmeh www.schmeh.org Euro HCC Bratislava, 2017
33

German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Feb 07, 2018

Download

Documents

dangdan
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Page 1: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

German Spy Ciphers in World War II

Klaus Schmehwww.schmeh.org

Euro HCC Bratislava, 2017

Page 2: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Encryption based on a crossword puzzle

CleartextENGLAND MUST CONCENTRATE FORCES TO WIN THE WAR

Key wordEMBANKMENT

Crossword puzzle

Page 3: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

E N G L A N D MU S T C O N C E NT R A T E F O R CE S T OW I N T HE WA R

T FQ

GR

E OPS

ENGLAND MUST CONCENTRATE FORCES TO WIN THE WAR

Page 4: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

E M B A N K M E N T

E N G L A N D MU S T C O N C E NT R A T E F O R CE S T OW I N T HE S WA R

T FQ

GR

E OP

Page 5: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

E

UTEE

T

M

ESRSSP

B

NT

TW

G

A

GCAOA

N

LOTWE

K

A

EIR

Q

M

NF

F

R

E

NCON

N

DERTO

T

MNCH

Page 6: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

GCAOA NTGTW TUTEE NCONA QEIRE SRSSP FNFRL OTWED ERTOM NCH

DERTO

MNCH

GCAOA

G

NT

T

NCON R

NF

FQA

EI

LOTWE

ESRSSP

UTEE

T

Page 7: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Used by German spies from 1936 on.Source: Friedman Collection

Details are not known.

Encryption based on a crossword puzzle

Page 8: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Klaus Schmeh

Cryptology Consultant

Journalist

Blogger

www.schmeh.org

Page 9: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Germany took great effort in espionage in WW2 ...

... but was not very successful

One reason: Germany had several intelligence agencies,

which did not cooperate

Page 10: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

However, little is known about German spy ciphers

This presentation focusses on German spy ciphers

German espionage is now well researched

Page 11: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

My sourcesCrypto history literature

British National Archives

Bundesarchiv

Friedman Collection

Cryptologia

NSA publications

All sources I found refer to enemy descriptions of the methods

Page 12: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

About 25 German WW2 spy ciphersBut there must be more

What I found

Page 13: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Spy cipher design is ...• different from other codemaking • difficult

Spy Cipher Requirements

machines and devices prohibitive

secure and easy to use

tailored to the spy's need

Page 14: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Two Approaches

out of scope

technical steganography

secret ink

microdot

cryptographic codes

steganographic codes

Page 15: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

We have seen a cryptographic code

Let's now look at a steganographic one

Page 16: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Westerlinck Code

Every word stands for a number:• 1 sylable: 1• 2 sylables: 2• 3 or more sylables: 3

mentioned in a British censorship manual

SNOW IN NOVEMBER: 113

WEATHER IS NICE: 211

Page 17: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Westerlinck CodeA=122B=131C=111D=132E=133F=211G=333H=113I=212J=121K=122L=213M=123

N=113O=112P=211Q=221R=311S=312T=313U=311V=323W=222X=223Y=231Z=332

SNOW IN NOVEMBER: 113=N

WEATHER IS NICE: 211=P

Page 18: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Westerlinck Code

LONDON TOUT BIEN ATTENDEZ AUTRES

NOUVELLES

Everything okay in London, wait for

other news.

Page 19: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Sent by German businessman Ottomar Müller from Buenos Aires to NLT Technico in Hamburg

Codebookmentioned in a British censorship manual

Page 20: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Codebook

unknown codebook

From a German-English dictionary:264/6 (page 264, word 6): pier112/3 (page 112, word 3): December

Page 21: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Another CodebookUsed by a German spy in Angola

Page 22: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Angola

During WW2 Portuguese colony

Portugal: neutral in WW2, but involved in trade with military

goods

Page 23: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Spanish code words

British military

expressions (gun, tank, troup, …)

Page 24: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

PIMENTA UTO IAS

Flying fortress arrived [at] destination.

Page 25: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Cipher disk

Page 26: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Josef Jakobs (1898-1941)

German spy in Great Britain

Page 27: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Steganographic codementioned in a British

censorship manual

Coded cleartextCOMV LIV LOND NAPOL CC 251 HIGH TH TRROP LIGT ART TANKS MOUNT

CleartextCONVOY LEAVING LONDON FOR NEAPOLY THE 25/1 COMPOSED OF

TROUPS HIGHLY TRAINED FAR MOUNTAIN WARFARE

Page 28: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Steganographic code

Binary code

mentioned in a British censorship manual

Coded cleartextCOMV LIV LOND NAPOL CC 251 HIGH TH TRROP LIGT ART TANKS MOUNT

Page 29: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Coded cleartextCOMV LIV LOND NAPOL CC 251 HIGH TH TRROP LIGT ART TANKS MOUNT

Page 30: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Love Letter

COMV LIV LOND NAPOL CC 251 HIGH TH TRROP LIGT ART TANKS MOUNT

Page 31: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Five Unsolved MessagesCreated by a German

spy in New York

Page 32: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

German spy ciphers were not especially good

Conclusion and Outlook

Crypto codes were not secure

Steganographic worked but were complicated

This confirms:

1. German cryptography in WW2 was only mediocre

2. German intelligence in WW2 was only mediocre

Page 33: German Spy Ciphers in World War II - ScienceBlogs.descienceblogs.de/klausis-krypto-kolumne/files/2017/05/Euro-HCC-2017... · German Spy Ciphers in World War II. Klaus Schmeh. ...

Further research is necessary:

• Find more German WW2 spy ciphers

• Find out more about German WW2 spy ciphers

• Research WW2 spy ciphers of other nations

Conclusion and Outlook