The Enigma Cipher Machine
Facts about Enigma
What is it?
The Enigma cipher machine was a machine invented by Germans and used in WW2 to code and cipher messages. It took Englishmen years to work out the codes and decipher it.
The Enigma machine works from a series of rotors used to scramble normal messages into ciphertext. The machine can create millions of different variiations of ciphertexts. You would need to know the settings of the machine to unscramble it.
The German authorities were very protective over the Enigma, they gave it great security. But, the help of Polish mathmaticians meant that the British were able to create machines that deciphered the codes. The Enigma Cipher Machine, was eventually figured out.
The key advantage, for the allies, of breaking the codes, meant that WW2 was believed to be shortened by two years.