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7th October 2014 - Secret Communications, codes and ciphers Richard Phillips Our new season was opened in fine style
by President Ian Dewar with the help of a plentiful supply of freshly baked and
delicious treacle scones, courtesy of club member Robert Kirkhope.
Once normal business had been conducted our President
introduced the speaker, Mr Richard Phillips, who talked about secret
communications and some of their impact on history, concentrating on more recent
times. Most examples necessarily were cases in which secrecy failed! Ranging
through treason and revolution, spies, military and diplomatic cases, and civil
liberties, failures of secrecy had sometimes been matters of life and death—even
sometimes changing the course of world history—such as the execution of Admiral
Yamamoto in WW2, and the Zimmerman Telegram in WW1. The methods used by ‘state
security’ long ago were already well-developed, as the example of Mary, Queen of
Scots’ last conspiracy showed. The telegraph, just like today’s e-mail was
vulnerable to interception and encryption was, and remains, one of the most
effective methods of protecting communications. The 1920’s saw the development of more secure ciphers and
machines which were in use for three quarters of a century. Careless use of
these systems during WW2 allowed the Allies to be outstandingly successful in
the code war though all sides had some successes. Mr Phillips then looked briefly at
another way to protect communications, hiding even the existence of a message by
steganography and concealment containers. He showed some actual examples of
these as used by major spies. Electronic computers were developed by and for the
code-breakers but computers then began to need security themselves. Secure
computer ciphers were developed for use by businesses and individuals. These can
give protection from fraud and theft, spying and eavesdropping. They are widely
used by commerce, political and human rights activists, journalists and anyone
concerned about protecting
their privacy and security. We rely on them every time we use our plastic cards
in an ATM or electronic point-of-sale till or buying on the Internet.
The USA’s extensive spying and communications
interception and code-breaking capability can read much of the world’s
electronic communications. For most people, the biggest threat to their privacy
is their own government, several of which cooperate in USA communications
monitoring. Cryptography is a
technology that is impossible to regulate. In many respects cryptography is like
a pair of gloves. Most people use cryptography to
prevent
crime rather than to hide it just as most people wear gloves to protect their
hands rather than to hide their fingerprints. By ensuring the
confidentiality and authenticity of electronic banking and Internet commerce,
cryptography prevents theft and credit-card fraud. The vigorous application of
cryptography may also improve national security, the encryption of
communications for example and protect businesses from industrial espionage.
Paradoxically we might create a
safer society by
promoting a technology that somewhat hampers law enforcement.
A lively Q&A session followed and Mr Phillips was given a
hearty vote of thanks by the members. Our next meeting
is on Tuesday 21st
October when Mr John Bolton will speak on test flying and aeronautical
engineering. |