Beyond Information Security

Enigma

The word enigma comes from the Greek and means “riddle.” Enigma was also the name of an encryption device from the 1920s. The combination of different rotor rollers and connectors achieved about the strength of a simple DES (digital encryption standard).

During World War II, Alan Turing and other British codebreakers managed to break the German military’s use of the Enigma to encrypt messages.