The Legend of Q
  • Home
  • Q Who?
    • Major Boothroyd
    • The Man from the Ministry of Supplies
    • Longitude 78 West
    • Not Just The Quartermaster
    • Only Q
    • Try The Other Q
  • Bond Movie Gadgets
    • Casino Royale
    • Dr No
    • From Russia With Love
    • Goldfinger
    • Thunderball
    • Casino Royale
    • You Only Live Twice
    • OHMSS
    • Diamonds Are Forever
    • Live and Let Die
    • The Man With The Golden Gun
    • The Spy Who Loved Me
    • Moonraker
    • For Your Eyes Only
    • Octopussy
    • Never Say Never Again
    • A View To A Kill
    • The Living Daylights
    • Licence To Kill
    • Goldeneye
    • Tomorrow Never Dies
    • The World Is Not Enough
    • Die Another Day
    • Casino Royale
    • Quantum of Solace
    • Skyfall
    • SPECTRE
  • The Spymasters
    • Special Operations Executive >
      • Bletchley & The Thatched Barn
      • Ian Fleming
      • Charles Fraser Smith
      • Christopher Clayton Hutton
      • Charles Bovill
      • Jasper Maskelyne
      • John Dolphin
      • Hugh Reeves
    • America's Acronym World >
      • Wild Bill Donovan's OSS
      • Stanley Lovell's R&D
    • CIA Museum >
      • Cameras
      • Code Breaking
      • Communication
      • Craft & Vehicle
      • Developments
      • Escape & Evasion
      • Intelligence Gathering
      • Research & Development
      • Spy Wear
      • Weaponry
  • Tomorrow's World
    • Futurology >
      • How Can I Live Forever?
      • The Future of Food
      • Interaction & Communication
      • The Future of Cars
      • Planes, Trains & Teleportation
      • Future Entertainment
    • Next... Big Thing >
      • Next... Biotech Breakthroughs
      • Next... Infotech Breakthroughs
      • Next... Travel & Space
      • Next... Travel & Air
      • Next... In 3D Printing
      • Next... Communication Generation
  • Spy-Fi Culture
    • Spy Movies
    • Spy TV >
      • Get Smart
    • 100 Best Books >
      • A World of Spies
      • Special Operations Executive & Mi6
      • Office of Strategic Services & The CIA
      • Spy Gadgets & Devices
      • James Bond Books
      • Spy TV & Film
      • 10 Best Spy Novels
      • Futurists & Their Futures

CIA Museum Code Breaking Gadgets & Devices

Picture

One Time Pad

One Time Pads (OTPs), could be as small as a postage stamp and could arrive with an agent in the field hidden in something like a hollowed out coin. They were also made of easily disposable material such as highly flammable cellulose nitrate film. The example displayed is 10cm x 6cm and would have been used to encode or decode an agent. Each OTP would be made of two sheets, one for the encoder and one for the decoder. Each sheet includes a key of five random numbers. Once a sheet is used to encode a message, the sheet is destroyed. Encryption is virtually unbreakable. 
Picture

Cipher Machine

Designed by a Swedish businessman and inventor of encryption machines, Boris Hagelin. This version of the Cipher Machine was the M-209. The system featured rotors that, once turned, would match up encoded and decoded numbers to reveal the hidden message. The M-209 was widely used in the Second World War.
Picture

Enigma 72

In 1918, German engineer Arthur Scherbius and Richard Ritter approached the German Navy and Foreign Office with a design for Scherbius’ Cipher Machine. Neither were interested. Fortunately, the banking industry was, and a small market developed. However, it was not until the late 1930s that the best use of the device was fostered by the German military. 
Picture
Arthur Scherbius' 1928 United States Enigma Patent
As far as electro-magnetic cipher machines that use rotors to encrypt and decrypt secret messages go, the Enigma was the most advanced. Although the Polish authorities managed to get an Enigma Machine to the British before the start of the Second World War, the Nazis continually updated and modified the equipment. Britain gathered its best and brightest code-breakers at Bletchley Park, which was part of the Special Operations Executive’s locations, and they set about breaking and decrypting codes. After the War, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill claimed the Codebreakers had shortened the conflict by two years.

< < <  Cameras
Communication  > > >
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.