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Re:Factoring may be easier than we think by munificent on Wednesday August 24, 2016 @07:22PM (#12355976)
> As they are still so keen on controlling encryption we can assume with good confidence that so far they have failed.

After the Enigma was cracked, the government was terrified that the Axis would find out. If they knew they were cracked, they could change the cipher and set back the Allies significantly.

So they spent a ton of effort obscuring their own intelligence.

Whenever a decoded Enigma message told them where a U-boat would be, they sent a "spotter" boat whose job is was to be seen seeing the U-boat before it was attacked. That way there was a plausible source of information for the U-boat's location. (These spotters were so "effective", the Germans suspected there must be many more of them in the area then there actually were.)

One time they weren't able to get a spotter there in time and Churchill himself made the call to attack anyway. To cover for that and avoid arousing suspicion, they sent a radio dispatch to a fake spy thanking him for the intel, so that the message could be intercepted by the Germans.

I wouldn't be so confident if I were you.

Re:Factoring may be easier than we think by monkmartinez on Thursday August 25, 2016 @12:14AM (#12356945)
That is just so fascinating... do you know where I could read more about this sort of thing. I don't care about time frames. Vietnam, I suspect, may have some interesting crypto treasures...

edit: spelling

Re:Factoring may be easier than we think by harry8 on Thursday August 25, 2016 @12:25AM (#12356967)
cryptonomicon by Neal Stehpens is a fiction but has a lot of this kind of thing in it. Not sure how accurate. Code book by Simon Singh. "The Man Who Never Was" is a boot I have never read but should because it's great ww2 espionage story. I'm sure others will kick in some suggestions.
Re:Factoring may be easier than we think by ecesena on Thursday August 25, 2016 @12:36AM (#12356995)
I like Simon Singh a lot. I've used his The Code Book to teach basic crypto at high school.
Re:Factoring may be easier than we think by jvandonsel on Thursday August 25, 2016 @08:50PM (#12363584)
Re:Factoring may be easier than we think by munificent on Thursday August 25, 2016 @01:53AM (#12357171)
Strangely enough, I got this all off Wikipedia. Project Ultra was pretty fascinating.
Re:Factoring may be easier than we think by Terribledactyl on Thursday August 25, 2016 @12:25AM (#12356969)
If you want fiction, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptonomicon is a lot of fun.