Enigma machine to go under the hammer

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/09/16/enigma.machine.auction/index.html

By Eoghan Macguire
CNN
September 17, 2011

(CNN) -- An encoding device synonymous with one of the most remarkable 
episodes of World War II espionage will go under the hammer in London 
later this month.

A version of the three rotor Enigma machine -- used by the German 
military to encrypt messages, the code of which was subsequently cracked 
by a team at the legendary Bletchley Park complex -- will be auctioned 
at Christie's on September 29.

Although the number of the ciphering machines still in existence is 
thought to remain in the thousands, "it is rare for one to come up for 
sale," says Christie's specialist, James Hyslop. "Many are believed to 
have been produced but it's not a particularly high survival," he adds.

During the wartime period, the Enigma machine was the most advanced 
device of its kind, a forerunner of the first modern computer systems.

[...]


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