friedo:
No, there is no truth to it. For one thing, Enigma is trivial to crack with modern computers.
There are laws in the US that control the export of cryptographic technology: for example, it used to be illegal to export any technology from the US that used a 128-bit or larger key, so Netscape could only legally provide 40-bit SSL outside the country. The government eventually realized the uselessness of these regulations, since it’s not like 128-bit SSL was a big secret, and repealed them around 1996. The only remaining regulations concern the export of cryptographic information that is classified by the government, and of course export of anything to countries like North Korea, Iran and Sudan.
Lots of people have built replica Enigma machines, BTW. Here’s a kit that you can buy.
NOOOOOOOOO - none of the links to order are active any longer
Can you put me in touch with one perhaps?
I went to both museum links … no love for me. Bletchley Park has books, tie pins and t-shirts, no kits. The Dutch one has the electronic version only, mrAru is a physical mechanical type, the actual wheels and gears inna box version is what I want for him. If I wanted to play with electrons, there are online enigma simulators to muck around with. Just not the same as hitting the key and hearing the whirr.
aruvqan:
I went to both museum links … no love for me. Bletchley Park has books, tie pins and t-shirts, no kits. The Dutch one has the electronic version only, mrAru is a physical mechanical type, the actual wheels and gears inna box version is what I want for him. If I wanted to play with electrons, there are online enigma simulators to muck around with. Just not the same as hitting the key and hearing the whirr.
I gotta say if I could choose one antique, that would be it. I’d settle for a perfect replica.
It was the perfect thing to get mrAru for his birthday. /runs away sobbing