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Reconstructed WW II Code Cracker Colossus Defeated
www.physorg.com ^ | 11/16/2007 | Mary Anne Simpson

Posted on 11/16/2007 8:27:55 AM PST by Red Badger

A monumental achievment in reconstructing Colossus the first code cracker computer used by Allied forces in World War II. In a timed contest between Colossus and the modern PC Colossus was defeated by a modern program and a 1.4 GHz PC.

A fourteen year project to reconstruct the World War II Allied forces Colossus the first code cracking computer ended in a match defeat against a modern 1.4 Ghz PC. The cipher event was instigated by The British National Museum of Computing and Cryptography at Betchley Park home of the newly reconstructed Colossus Mark II. The event challenged all interested parties to compete with Colossus in the deciphering of three enciphered messages. The German participants sent the messages utilizing the Lorenz SZ42 teleprinter using the same radio protocols as the German high command used in World War II.

The original Colossus is regarded by many to have been instrumental in shortening the war in Europe by as much as 18 months. The Colossus about the size of a British small lorry was capable of deciphering messages sent by Hitler to his generals. The Nazi based Lorenz SZ40/42 machine enciphered messages that were sent by radio to the German high command. The only reason the messages were capable of deciphering was that the Lorenz SZ40 encryption was not entirely random.

The process to unscramble the messages were painstaking and involved several layers of deciphering tasks. First the captured messages sent via the radio were punched on to paper tape. The paper tape was fed into Colossus at the rate of 5,000 characters per second. The inputted data became part of the memory of Colossus. Colossus then analyzed the data to determine the wheels of the Lorenz might have been set up to encipher the message. Various functions of the Colossus were used to perform this statistical analysis. The end result with a little luck thrown in would be a printed tape with the exact wheel of the Lorenz so the message could be deciphered. Generally it took about six hours to decipher a message.

After World War II the six known Colossus computers were broken up and destroyed for a variety of reasons. Some 14 years ago Tony Sales and the founders of the aspiring British National Museum of Computing and Cryptography embarked on the project to reconstruct a Colossus using photos and scant information about the original machine.

The winner of the cipher event Bonn, Germany resident Joachim Schuth used a program he wrote in ADA programming language to decipher the coded messages. The very noisy transmission was received by Schuth yesterday and his 1.4 Ghz PC took only 46 seconds to decipher the message using his program. The total time involved was two hours from the time when the message was first received to the end when it was actually deciphered.

Unfortunately the radio transmission was troublesome due to atmospheric conditions. The Colossus got off to a rough start by getting the message late yesterday and beginning the process of deciphering early this morning when it was announced by Heise a German news service that Mr. Schuth had all ready cracked the code.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: code; computer; espionage; wwii
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1 posted on 11/16/2007 8:27:56 AM PST by Red Badger
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To: ShadowAce

Ping!............


2 posted on 11/16/2007 8:28:14 AM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Red Badger

3 posted on 11/16/2007 8:28:43 AM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Red Badger

Nice post!


4 posted on 11/16/2007 8:30:16 AM PST by SShultz460 (Mexico: #1 Source of American School Children)
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To: Red Badger

NEW FLASH..A F-22 Raptor out flew a spitfire today, in a test to see which was faster!


5 posted on 11/16/2007 8:30:58 AM PST by conservativehusker (GO BIG RED!!!!)
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To: conservativehusker
I didn’t mean any disrespect to the project — I just thought the article sounded like a put down to the old girl...like making fun of a 70 year old beauty queen because she isn’t as pretty as a 20 year old...
6 posted on 11/16/2007 8:33:17 AM PST by conservativehusker (GO BIG RED!!!!)
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To: ASA Vet; BIGLOOK; Red Badger

Interesting comparisons.


7 posted on 11/16/2007 8:33:34 AM PST by Grampa Dave (("Ron Paul and his flaming antiwar spam monkeys can Kiss my Ass!!"- Jim Robinson, Sept, 30, 2007))
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To: Red Badger

Very interesting post. Thanks.


8 posted on 11/16/2007 8:34:02 AM PST by pt17
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To: Red Badger
Nice One....
The old Guard tells the new Guard, "I am smarter than you...."
9 posted on 11/16/2007 8:34:09 AM PST by From One - Many (Trust the Old Media At Your Own Risk. I Will Be Voting for Mr. Duncan Hunter, fellow FReepers.)
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To: Red Badger
Here is the actual message received before deciphering:

The orpedoes-tay have been aunched-lay from the ubmarines-say.

10 posted on 11/16/2007 8:35:17 AM PST by Drawsing (The fool shows his annoyance at once. The prudent man overlooks an insult. (Proverbs 12:16))
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To: Red Badger

Monitor sub brought back, and matched against a Seawolf sub, lost the race too.


11 posted on 11/16/2007 8:35:35 AM PST by Ancient Drive
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To: conservativehusker

LOL! I am litterally LOL and folks in the office are asking what’s so funny!


12 posted on 11/16/2007 8:37:28 AM PST by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll.)
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To: From One - Many

Note, also, that the Colossus had to be “reconstructed” since the originals (14) were destroyed after the war..............


13 posted on 11/16/2007 8:39:22 AM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Red Badger

This is a no-brainer but I would like to see Mr. Schuth build his computer from “old photos and scant information” and then see how it works!!! LOL


14 posted on 11/16/2007 8:39:38 AM PST by biff
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To: Red Badger

The message was “Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.”


15 posted on 11/16/2007 8:39:39 AM PST by Disambiguator (Political Correctness is criminal insanity writ large.)
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To: Disambiguator

LOL!!!!!......


16 posted on 11/16/2007 8:40:33 AM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: indcons

Read later for possible Milhist ping


17 posted on 11/16/2007 8:41:07 AM PST by indcons
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To: Red Badger

yep, the old worked so well it lost to the new one...but it is wonderous to see an old computer put together by an older generation work so well....nice.....


18 posted on 11/16/2007 8:41:31 AM PST by From One - Many (Trust the Old Media At Your Own Risk. I Will Be Voting for Mr. Duncan Hunter, fellow FReepers.)
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To: Red Badger
NEWS FLASH! Hawk kills pigeon.



Cacique's Recomended Reading List for week of November 12, 2007
CLICK ON ANY COVER FOR MORE INFORMATION


19 posted on 11/16/2007 8:41:36 AM PST by Cacique (quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat ( Islamia Delenda Est ))
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To: conservativehusker

In a test to see which would be more powerful, an Atomic Bomb reproduction of Fat Man was exploded alongside a modern American Thermodynamic Nuclear device over Tehran. Results are pending one things cool.


20 posted on 11/16/2007 8:41:48 AM PST by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll.)
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