The Enigma machine is the most well-known encryption tool used by German forces in World War II, mostly because it was so famously cracked by the Allies to great effect. Like many hackers, [christofer.jh] was intrigued by the design of the Enigma, and felt compelled to build a binary version of his own design.
The original Enigma machine was designed to scramble the 26 letters in the Latin alphabet. This design is altogether simpler. Instead of 26 letters, it will scramble 1s and 0s of binary code based on the initial settings of the scrambler rings.
To send a message encoded with the machine, you must first translate your text into binary. You can use any method, and [christofer.jh] suggests a simplified one himself. Then, digit by digit, you push a button corresponding to the 1s and 0s of your message, check the output, note it down, and then push the lever to advance the rings. Enter the next digit, and so on. Decoding then involves setting up the machine in the same initial state and entering the ciphertext to get the message back out.
It’s an amusing little design and one that could be a good laugh to assemble for those interested in classical cryptographic methods. Design files are there so you can print your own if you so desire. Or, check out some previous Enigma projects from the pages of Hackaday.
Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.
