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Codes, Cryptography & BlockchainCodebreaking

Breaking Enigma

It fell to habits, guesses and a room full of machines

Enigma had 158 quintillion settings, changed every day. So how did codebreakers end up reading its messages?

You'll find out

  • Who cracked it first
  • A flaw in the machine's mirror
  • The machine that tested guesses

Why it matters

Strong math can still lose to human habits, and the same goes for every password and lock you use today.

About 4 min7 interactive slides · 5 questionsLesson 179 · Zone 20

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Previous lessonThe Enigma MachineNext lessonGreedy Change

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  2. 173Electric VehiclesBraking Into the BatteryElectric cars recharge a little every time they slow down
  3. 174Game TheoryWinning at Rock-Paper-ScissorsHumans are bad at being random, and a machine can exploit it
  4. 175Binary ComputingThe Vote From Outer SpaceA cosmic ray may have added 4,096 votes in a Belgian election
  5. 176Network PerformanceFast Internet, Slow PagesBandwidth isn't speed; round trips add up
  6. 177Game PhysicsWhy Characters Fall Through WallsGames check for collisions in snapshots, and fast things slip between them
  7. 178Classical CryptographyThe Enigma Machine158 quintillion settings, changed every single day
  8. 180AlgorithmsGreedy ChangeAlways giving the biggest coin usually works, until it doesn't

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