smokin' a j

[teh-horace]

woot first joint in the longest time
yay

[teh-horace]

yes, i knew it!
i knew i was gonna find a secret message tonight
haha
that's awesome

[Micha]

yayyyy

[Quest_techie]

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
bcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyza
cdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzab
defghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabc
efghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcd
fghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcde
ghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdef
hijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefg
ijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefgh
jklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghi
klmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghij
lmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijk
mnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijkl
nopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklm
opqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmn
pqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmno
qrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnop
rstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopq
stuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqr
tuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrs
uvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrst
vwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstu
wxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuv
xyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw
yzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwx
zabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxy
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz





this is a very powerful tool for decrypting secret messages, it's called a letter grid, it's easier if it's written on graph paper or something, but, well you know....

[teh-horace]

I am intrigued, how does it work?

[teh-horace]

smokin' a bowl with a roach and tiny nugget in it. =D

[Quest_techie]

I am intrigued, how does it work?

okay....


for example lets go with the enigma cipher because it's a good real world explanation (this is going to be a long ass post, just sit back and relax)

you start with the letter that's written (say it's q) then you know the enigma settings for the day (I'll explain that in a second) now instead of having to run the arithmatic (x1-x2 over y1-y2) you can just count down and over the appropriate number to the settings (assuming you don't have a turing bombe or letchworth enigmas)

so how do you get those numbers?


okay, so I type in c to the enigma keyboard, it goes to the c terminal in the wheelbox, it then goes through the first wheel and the letter it goes into is determined by the setting of the first wheel, that terminal is wired to a termintation point on the other end of the wheel, (so say it started at c, it went to the f terminal, came out the other end as A, you can assign number values to each of these shifts, the f-a shift is static, but the c-f shift is constantly shifting because the wheels are advanced each letter)

the signal then travels through the other x number of wheels (from 3-12 depending on the enigma model)

in some models there were reflector plates which were wired in such a way that all signals would be sent back through the machine double scrambling the message (so essentially doubling the number of wheels)

the message then went into the stecker (plug) board and either straight through wires or the uhr box, the uhr box was simply an additional static rotor




you just had to take the values that you knew from that days settings, apply them to the grid, and you had the final letter....


crypto rocks....

[teh-horace]

haha, i will never be a cryptologist...

[Quest_techie]

technically this would be cryptanalysis.....