ADVANCES IN COMPUTER SCIENCE RESEARCH THE CRYPTANALYSIS OF THE ENIGMA CIPHER

Abstract: In this paper we study cryptanalysis of the military Enigma machine which was used by the German Army during the Second World War. We are interested in the prob-lem of decoding secret messages transmitted after 15 September 1938. We give a complete algorithm which can be used to: generate the ring settings, guess what kinds of drums are chosen and determine the order of the drums on a shared shaft. The proposed algorithm is an optimization of the Zygalski’s sheets method. Before we present it, we will describe the mystery which is hidden in the sheets (author’s observations). In order to read the encrypted messages we need the plugboard settings. Connections of the plugboard influence neither Zygalski’s method (which is a well-known fact) nor the presented algorithm. The missing (original) algorithm solving the problem of the plugboard along with an algebraic description will appear very soon