Computers and Cryptography

The development of computers is closely intertwined with the history of cryptography, and vice versa. The mechanization of cryptography during the early 20th century slowly began to exceed the skills of cryptanalysts to break such encryption. The only way to break these ciphers was to also mechanize the breaking of ciphers. Colossus, the first programmable digital computer, was developed exactly for that purpose during World War II.

Until the early 1950s, computers were only used by government agencies for codebreaking, the military, weapons development and research. In 1951, the UNIVAC was the first commercially produced digital computer, but computers were mainly used by universities and large corporations like IBM and General Electric. Programming those large mainframe computers was a complex task.

Making Computers Accessible 

This changed when Professors John Kemeny and Tom Kurtz from Dartmouth research university  got the, I quote, crazy idea to develop a simple language to make programming easier and more accessible for non-technical undergraduate students.

However, they first had to buy a computer. Since there was no budget for computers, they bought a Librascope LGP-30 computer, an optical tape reader and a typewriter console for a total of $37,040 and booked it under furniture. That's $383,434 in present 2023.

Librascope LGP-30 with console typewriter. Source: Bob Fleischer - Wikipedia.

John Kemeny wrote the compiler to translated the new language into machine language for the LGP-30. This new language was named BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) and made programming easier than ever.

Moreover, to make BASIC accessible to as many students as possible, they implemented time sharing  (sharing computing resource) on the LGP-30 computer to enable several students to independently work on their own console typewriter, remotely and simultaneous, processed on one single computer. This idea resulted in students lining up  to learn programming with BASIC, the computer language that remains popular to this day.

Crypto Going Mainstream

For many people, BASIC was their first programming language when small computers became commercially available in the late 1970s. This was the era where people who bought a computer usually also learned to program. They were often called nerds, because… who on earth needs a computer? Yeah, sure.

The rapidly growing number of computers and users also spurred the development of crypto algorithms by others than government and the few commercial firms that build crypto equipment. This fueled the everlasting competition between codemakers and codebreakers, and between state and citizens. This evolution also democratized cryptography and digital privacy.

All this started when two professors decide to make programming easier. More on the development of BASIC in the below video.

 
Birth of BASIC - Dartmouth College

More on Cryptography and Computers

On our website you find a brief history of cryptography and learn more about the Colossus computer, used by the British codebreaker during the Second World War to break the German Lorenz SZ40/42 machine, used for their high-level communications.

More on the LGP-30 computer at the Computer Museum Stuttgart and many detailed photos at the Time-Line Computer Archive. Also read Fifty Years of BASIC on Time.

Mission: Impossible - Cyber Security

Cyber security is an ever-evolving battle that we can never win. The reason is simple. Virtually no one actually knows what is running on their computer at this very moment. And yes, that's a bit scary.

Gary Ruddell created a series of videos that are both entertaining and professionally made. His website provides insight in cyber security and includes articles, a newsletter and also workshops for those who are interested in a career in cyber. Here's one of his videos.

Here's Why Cyber Security is Impossible - Gary Ruddell

 

Secure communications is indeed quite complex. Luckily, there are professional firms that provide secure solutions. At least, that is what we expect them to do. However, the former Swiss firm Crypto AG had a hidden agenda, as I explained in previous posts. Garry also created a perfect introduction video about the shady adventures of that firm.

The Greatest Hack of All Time - Gary Ruddell

 

You can visit Garry's website at www.garyruddell.com to learn more about cyber security. Make sure to visit his Youtube channel to discover more videos. Highly recommended.

Cyber Security Tips

Visit US-CERT

Everyone with a computer and a network connection should pay a visit to US Computer Emergency Readiness Team US-CERT website. US-CERT is founded to protect the Internet structure within the United States, analyze and reduce threats in cyber space, respond to cyber incidents and to spread warning information.

 

To perform this tremendous task, the US-CERT works together with the Department of Homeland Security and several private and public sectors. They have lots of useful information, not only for US citizens, but for everyone who has a computer.

An important part of making the Internet a bit more secure is to provide good information to the computer user. On the Alerts and Tips page you can find information about current security problems and vulnerabilities, important security updates and patches for various computer platforms.

A most interesting page are the Cyber Security Tips. What is cyber security, what can you do to protect your computer and network, what kind of threats can you expect, and how do I protect myself against them? They give tips on safe communication, using e-mail and browsing on the net, and how to keep your software up-to-date and secure. Privacy, protecting it with encryption, passwords, it's all there. Those who often use a computer but are not really computer geeks can really learn here to avoid some important security mistakes they make on computers and learn to protect their privacy.

This information on the Security Tips page should come with each new computer that you buy. Actually, using a computer without these basic tips is like driving a car for the first time and not having any clue of the road signs and traffic rules. So, be safe and read it!

FBI Security Fails

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), America's law enforcement agency, fails to apply the necessary security measurements on its computer systems and networks. A report by the US Government Accountability Office (GOA) summarizes shortcomings in information security controls on the FBI's critical internal network.

Some of the problems GOA discovered after analysis of the FBI computer network were insecure configuration of network devices and services, flaws in identification and authorization of users and clearances for access privileges. Critical information was found on the internal network, not protected by strong encryption.

Also, key servers and workstations were not patched in a timely manner. According to GOA these security flaws increase risk of unauthorized disclosure or modification, and could result in a disruption of service. This report is actually an interesting summary of tips on how to improve security and this applies not only to the FBI but also to any other network, from personal use to large enterprises. People often don't realise how much critical information can leak out, and how severe the consequences can be.

Information theft, cyber crime or industrial espionage, it's every ones business, even the little guy in a small private company. One thing this report proves is that good encryption is underestimated by too many people, even by the FBI who should know their job even better than the rest! I'll keep telling, the only realy secure computer is a stand-alone one, inside a safe! You can read the full GOA report in this pdf.

Site Review: Computer History

While reading this blog in a wealth of fine colors on your 2 GHz computer with 1,000 Mb of memory and 300 Gigabyte hard disk you might wanna surf with your wireless optical mouse to the Computer History Museum.

The site contains lots of information on the development of computers. There's an interesting timeline where you find descriptions and photographs of computers, from the first models, operating with enormous banks of relays, to the latest technology. But there's more! You can search by category, read about companies, computer components, languages, games and the development of network communication. 

There's an on-line exhibition tour that covers the history of the groundbreaking PDP-1 and the museum’s recent restoration of a PDP-1 to working order. In the visible storage you find a wealth of photographs. Another great site is old-computers.com. This site has an enormous archive with nearly all computers, including their technical details.

You can browse through the archive by name, year or company. There's a nice history section, describing in detail the development of computers. Surfing through these pages I can't help feeling a bit nostalgic. Writing software for over 25 years myself, I remember the days of hex code programming, simple compilers and the art of squeezing programs into a 64 Kilobyte memory. It's been a quantum leap from the first computers to your high-tech laptop. But one thing never changed: it's all about 0 and 1.