‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

OpenAI GPT–6 Astra breaks Enigma message that has resisted solution since 2005

738 points · 448 comments · sohkamyung

  1. mmsc · · focus · HN ↗
    For anybody interested, the actual encrypted message:

      BTTE UM ANGABE DES MARSQWEGES X BEFINDE MIQ IN X ROSENOW ROSENOW X SOFORT FUNKANTWORT X WASCHBBSCH
    
    which, given misspellings, translates approximately to:

      Please specify the route of march. I am in Rosenow, Rosenow. Immediate reply by radio. Waschbusch.
    1. yitchelle · · focus · HN ↗
      was the misspellings deliberate?
      1. busssard · · focus · HN ↗
        i would assume yes, to throw off decyphering. even more impressive that they managed to crack it
        1. kadoban · · focus · HN ↗
          > i would assume yes, to throw off decyphering. even more impressive that they managed to crack it

          Were operators of enigma machines aware enough of cryptology or the weaknesses of enigma, for that to have been done intentionally to prevent decryption? I doubt it, otherwise _many_ things should have been done _much_ differently by the operators.

        2. damnesian · · focus · HN ↗
          I'm surprised "Bitte" --> "btte" was a hurdle. "Bitte," or "please," is ubiquitous in German. The more common the term, them more likely you'd be to see some contractions. Dropping the "i" is pretty logical- anyone looking at it would see immediately what it meant.
          1. tomjakubowski · · focus · HN ↗
            To be clear, the text in the comment is the plaintext, not the ciphertext. The plaintext is what's full of typos.

            The ciphertext of message Nr 172 was:

            MVUEH IDEVS ARMCC NQTAT YEVFC DBZGG SMXWL PSYWZ YTCBS WURRT BZCVG ODVJU SLSOO MJQJZ SXSEB ZPEYM DNXJF TC

            <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cryptocellar.org&#x2F;bgac&#x2F;g-army-july-1941.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;cryptocellar.org&#x2F;bgac&#x2F;g-army-july-1941.html

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.