NSA "pre-history of code-breaking"?
This was posted on Slashdot today: "The National Security Agency has declassified an eye-opening pre-history of computers used for code-breaking between the 1930s and 1960s. The 344 page report, entitled It Wasn't All Magic: The Early Struggle to Automate Cryptanalysis (pdf), it is available on the Government Attic web site. Government Attic has also just posted a somewhat less declassified NSA compendium from 1993: A Collection of Writings on Traffic Analysis. (pdf)" When I tried to click on the link I got an error message (not that I really want a file from the NSA on my computer...). Anybody know if this is for real? Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055 www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS
Looks like governmentattic.org is down altogether. Here's a mirror of the file: http://cryptome.org/2013/06/NSA-WasntAllMagic_2002.pdf I haven't read through it yet. Marie ______________________ Marie Hicks, Ph.D. Asst. Professor, History of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL USA mariehicks.net | mhicks1@iit.edu | @histoftech On Jun 24, 2013, at 21:08, Janet Abbate <abbate@vt.edu> wrote:
This was posted on Slashdot today:
"The National Security Agency has declassified an eye-opening pre-history of computers used for code-breaking between the 1930s and 1960s. The 344 page report, entitled It Wasn't All Magic: The Early Struggle to Automate Cryptanalysis (pdf), it is available on the Government Attic web site. Government Attic has also just posted a somewhat less declassified NSA compendium from 1993: A Collection of Writings on Traffic Analysis. (pdf)"
When I tried to click on the link I got an error message (not that I really want a file from the NSA on my computer...). Anybody know if this is for real?
Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055 www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
Thanks, Marie. I browsed through and noticed quite a few bits of text are redacted (esp. pp. 203-on, the early post-WWII era). It has a publication date of 2002 but the typesetting looks much older, which is odd; you'd think the government's most computer-savvy agency would have discovered Postscript by 2002. The bibliography shows a good knowledge of the older history of computing literature and archives. I probably won't have time to look further but others may find this useful. Janet On Jun 24, 2013, at 11:47 11PM, M. Hicks wrote:
Looks like governmentattic.org is down altogether. Here's a mirror of the file: http://cryptome.org/2013/06/NSA-WasntAllMagic_2002.pdf
I haven't read through it yet.
Marie
______________________ Marie Hicks, Ph.D. Asst. Professor, History of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL USA mariehicks.net | mhicks1@iit.edu | @histoftech
On Jun 24, 2013, at 21:08, Janet Abbate <abbate@vt.edu> wrote:
This was posted on Slashdot today:
"The National Security Agency has declassified an eye-opening pre-history of computers used for code-breaking between the 1930s and 1960s. The 344 page report, entitled It Wasn't All Magic: The Early Struggle to Automate Cryptanalysis (pdf), it is available on the Government Attic web site. Government Attic has also just posted a somewhat less declassified NSA compendium from 1993: A Collection of Writings on Traffic Analysis. (pdf)"
When I tried to click on the link I got an error message (not that I really want a file from the NSA on my computer...). Anybody know if this is for real?
Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055 www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
Try this link: http://cryptome.org/2013/06/NSA-WasntAllMagic_2002.pdf -- Gregory P. Bufithis, Esq. Sent from my iPad Retina On Tue, Jun 25, 2013 at 4:08 AM, Janet Abbate <abbate@vt.edu> wrote:
This was posted on Slashdot today:
"The National Security Agency has declassified an eye-opening pre-history of computers used for code-breaking between the 1930s and 1960s. The 344 page report, entitled It Wasn't All Magic: The Early Struggle to Automate Cryptanalysis (pdf), it is available on the Government Attic web site. Government Attic has also just posted a somewhat less declassified NSA compendium from 1993: A Collection of Writings on Traffic Analysis. (pdf)"
When I tried to click on the link I got an error message (not that I really want a file from the NSA on my computer...). Anybody know if this is for real?
Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055 www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
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participants (3)
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Gregory P Bufithis - CEO The Project Counsel Group -
Janet Abbate -
M. Hicks