Brais Macknik-Conde
Saturday, August 16, 2025: 6:00 pm (Tobin 201/202): The Enigma machine was a sophisticated encryption device used by Nazi Germany during World War II. Its mechanical design utilized three rotors that scrambled plaintext into complex ciphertext, with additional layers of security from unique internal settings. However, inherent weaknesses and poor operational procedures left it vulnerable to cryptanalysis. The first successful attacks on Enigma were conducted by Polish mathematicians in the early 1930s. By exploiting repeating message indicators and rotor cycle patterns, they deduced rotor wirings and constructed replica Enigma machines. Their breakthroughs enabled systematic decryption until German countermeasures in 1938 forced new approaches. Alan Turing and his team at Bletchley Park refined these methods, pioneering statistical techniques and mechanical computation to accelerate decryption. Techniques such as Banburismus and the Good-Turing estimation method were created under Turing's leadership. The development of the Bombe machine allowed rapid elimination of incorrect rotor settings, enabling the Allies to decipher vast amounts of enemy communication. This presentation will focus on history and cryptography, examining how breaking Enigma provided critical intelligence that shaped Allied strategies and shortened the war by an estimated two years, saving millions of lives in one of humankind's most significant intelligence operations.