Ciphertext-only cryptanalysis of short Hagelin M-209 ciphertexts. Issue 6 (2nd November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lasry, George; Kopal, Nils; Wacker, Arno
• Is Part Of: Cryptologia. Volume 42:Issue 6(2018)
• Page Start: 485
• Page End: 513
• Publication Date: 2018-11-02
• Subjects: Ciphertext-only attack -- cryptanalysis -- cryptographic challenge -- Hagelin -- hillclimbing -- M-209 -- NSA -- simulated annealing; Cryptography -- Periodicals; 652.8
• DOI: 10.1080/01611194.2018.1428836
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0161-1194

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The Hagelin M-209 was a mechanical encryption device used by the U.S. Army during World War 2 (WWII) and the Korean War, as well as by other armies and diplomatic services. The Hagelin M-209 has been the focus of extensive research by codebreaking agencies. Several ciphertext-only attacks have been published, but, those attacks are applicable only to the case of long cryptograms. In this article, the authors present a nested hill-climbing and simulated annealing algorithm for recovering the full key settings from ciphertext only, with ciphertexts as short as 500 letters, compared to a minimum of 750 to 1, 250 letters with prior methods. With this method, the authors have solved the last problem of a public Hagelin M-209 challenge contest.