Renowned Cryptographers and Cryptanalysts Cryptography

¶ … Renowned Cryptographers and Cryptanalysts

Cryptography was a very important element in the results of both World War I and II. While it has been used for centuries for a variety of purposes, cryptography in its currently known forms was first developed during the 17th century. In tracing the work of a variety of cryptographers, this paper shows each contribution during the World Wars, and how each success is used as a platform for future achievements in the field. The pioneering work of the men and women mentioned here is instrumental in the current political climate, where intelligence gathering on terrorism is vitally important.

In terms of history, cryptography is most notable for its use during the World Wars, and particularly during World War II. During the Second World War, cryptographers played a very important role in decoding messages by enemies. Some even hold that cryptographers were instrumental in the Allied victory during World War II. Cryptography today is even more vital, particularly in the light of 9/11 and subsequent terrorist activity, particularly in the United States. Millions of dollars are spent on intelligence and information collecting throughout the world in order to curb the terrorism threat (Ligett, 2005). While cryptography has been used for thousands of years for a number of communicative purposes, the form it took during the twentieth century and beyond was mainly focused upon defusing the efforts of the military enemy. Cryptography was first seriously used for this purpose during the World Wars. It was however already pioneered by Leonhard Euler and Pierre de Fermat during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Fermat and Euler

According to Jenny McNulty (2007), Pierre de Fermat's contribution constitutes what has become known as his Little Theorem, which he developed during 1640. He did this by writing a letter to a friend, in which he stated, without proof, that "p divides ap-1 whenever p is prime and a is relatively prime to p." Fermat had no proven basis for this theorem. This was provided nearly a century later by Leonhard Euler, who was born during 1707. Being a mathematician of note, and a contributor to many fields within the mathematical and cryptographic paradigms, Euler not only provided proof for Fermat's Little Theorem, but also generalized it to fit any modulus (McNulty, 2007). The work of these two theorists was instrumental in later cryptography when deciphering encrypted messages.

Herbert O. Yardley, Pioneer during World War I

According to Byron Ligett (2005), Yardley was first in his effort towards creating a government agency for the purpose of breaking foreign codes and messages. Yardley was born in 1889. During his high school career, Yardley was excellent at mathematics. During these years, he took a job a rail depot, learned telegraphy and Morse code, in which he became fluent. This led him to becoming a telegrapher for the State Department in Washington, DC. (Ligett, 2005). Yardley's work here involved receiving encoded messages involving American government officials traveling abroad. He found his work in the Code Room thrilling, and resolved to be involved with cryptography throughout his life.

With the outbreak of World War I in 1917, Yardley was 28 years old. He was put in charge of Military Intelligence, which required that he decode foreign messages. This was a significant point in American history, as the Intelligence Agency that Yardley set up was the first of its kind in the country. The Agency - MI-8 - proved invaluable to the country. For this, Yardley received the Distinguished Service Medal. Yardley's efforts were used as a springboard for further developments in cryptography during World War II.

Agnes Meyer Driscoll

Like Yardley, Agnes Meyer Driscoll was born in 1889, and her most significant contribution was also made during World War I. Driscoll worked as a cryptanalyst for the Navy, and as such broke many Japanese naval coding systems. In addition, Driscoll developed many of the early machine systems. Apart from being significantly intelligent for any person of her time and age, Driscoll was also unusual in terms of her gender. Her interests led her to technical and scientific studies during her college career, which was not typical for women of the time (NSA). When she enlisted in the United States Navy during 1918, Driscoll was assigned to the Code and Signal section of Communications, where she remained as a leader in her field until 1949.

As mentioned above, Driscoll's work also involved remerging technology in terms of machine development. These were aimed not only at creating ciphers, but also at breaking them. At the very beginning of her naval career, Driscoll helped develop the CM, one of the first cipher machines used by the U.S. Navy. Among the codes Ms. Driscoll succeeded in breaking include the Red Book Code in the 1920s and the Blue Book Code in 1930 (NSA). In 1940, she provided critical insight into the Japanese fleet operational code. The U.S. Navy was able to use this work to their advantage after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Driscoll's contribution then involved not only her developments in the new technologies of the time and her success in breaking codes for the critical success of her country; she also provided women with a sound example of what the female mind and heart were capable of. Furthermore, she provided a platform from which her successors, such as Frank B. Rowlett (Kovach, 1998), could pursue their work in cryptography during World War II. In addition to the United States, other countries such as the U.K. And Poland also yielded significant code breakers during the World Wars.

Among these are Marian Rejewski, Jerzy Rozycki, and Henryk Zygalski from Poland, and Alan Turing from the U.K. Particularly, these cryptographers were significant in their contribution to deciphering the German Enigma.

Decoding the Enigma