

Encryption enthusiast deciphers ‘Unsolvable’ WWI Encryption Code - jackau
http://nocamels.com/2013/12/israeli-deciphers-unsolvable-wwi-encryption-code/

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ColinWright
This article describes this as a "double transportation cipher" \- which is
incorrect. It's more correctly described in the article submitted nearly a
week ago here:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6960168](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6960168)

That also has a link to a more complete description:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_transposition_cipher](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_transposition_cipher)

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throwaway_yy2Di
_" During World War I, the German military used a double columnar
transposition cipher, changing the keys infrequently. The system was regularly
solved by the French, naming it Übchi, who were typically able to quickly find
the keys once they'd intercepted a number of messages of the same length,
which generally took only a few days. However, the French success became
widely known and, after a publication in_ Le Matin, _the Germans changed to a
new system on 18 November 1914. [1] "_

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_transposition_cipher#Do...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_transposition_cipher#Double_transposition)

Courtesy of M. Édouard Snoden.

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nicolasbn
I think you meant: Mr. Édouard Neigedon.

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adamnemecek
OT but 4MB sure is a lot for a static site.

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neals
Came here to post this. Scrolling is a nightmare on this page. Why would you
do this to your visitors? How would anybody still visit anyway?

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xerophtye
Times like this, am very thankful for Readability[1]

[1][http://readability.com](http://readability.com)

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gejjaxxita
I don't know much about encryption - can someone explain why if this was
considered so "unbreakable" it was abandoned as a method so long ago?

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wmil
Many codes are unbreakable (or are effectively so) if you only use them once,
statistical attacks become possible with multiple messages. In this case if
you send two messages of the same length with the same code both can be
broken.

Also it's a rearrangement of the letters in the message. So a short message
with distinct letters like 'Invade Pyatigorsk' could be easily cracked without
knowing the code.

