Alberti Cipher Disk and Enigma Cipher
Why did the Alberti Cipher disk have numbers on it? Describe how the disk was used. What made it secure? What was the impact of this disk on cryptology?
How does enciphering and deciphering differ on the Enigma? What weakness in the Enigma did the Poles use to break Enigma ciphers?
Solution Preview
Alberti's system used two disks of different sizes, the larger being the stationary disk and the smaller being movable. Each disk's circumference was divided into 24 (26 should be used for the English alphabet) equal parts. In each division of the larger stationary disk, the letters of the alphabet were written in the proper order. The smaller disk also contained the letters of the alphabet, though the order was mixed.
With the two disks properly aligned, a plaintext letter on the larger stationary disk would correspond to a cipertext letter on the smaller disk. However, since the inner disk can move, the ciphertext letter may correspond to more ...
Solution Summary
The Alberti cipher and the Enigma cipher are compared and discussed in detail.