Crypto

Cryptographic (code and cipher) equipment and materials.

Another KY-38 NESTOR Voice Encryption Device (Demilitarized)

 Crypto Room, Radio Room  15 Responses »
Dec 202015
 
Another KY-38 NESTOR Voice Encryption Device (Demilitarized)

Back in 2009, I posted about a demilitarized KY-38 NESTOR voice encryption device. Since then, I’ve procured another one. Like the first one, it has been demilitarized (that is, rendered inoperable and unclassified) by removal of key internal components, removal of the original dataplate, and (for some reason I don’t understand) removal of the battery box. But unlike the first one, this one came with a 28″ cable to plug it into the AN/PRC-77 radio, and a matching transit case! There was even an old trouble ticket lost under the padding, though it was for a different unit based on the serial number.

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2013 MRCG Event After-Action Report

 Crypto Room, Radio Room, Spy HQ  5 Responses »
May 082013
 
2013 MRCG Event After-Action Report

Last weekend, the 18th annual meeting of the Military Radio Collectors Group was held in San Luis Obispo, California, at Camp San Luis Obispo’s NCO club. The event included equipment displays, presentations, field operations and a swap meet. I had a great time, and nearly every other comment I heard about this year’s meet was positive. I’m already looking forward to next year’s annual meeting, as well as the occasional field events we’ll probably have throughout the year.

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M-209 Simulator Update: Now with Key List Generator

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Apr 282013
 
M-209 Simulator Update: Now with Key List Generator

I’ve just released version 2013-04-28a of my command-line M-209 simulator. The major addition to this release is a new Python script which generates key lists with daily scheduled key changes. The generated key list collections include 365-366 plain-text key files which may be read, printed or loaded into my simulator, and plain text key lists for each month which may be viewed or printed. Also, if TeX typesetting software and some other related utilities are available, various PDF key lists will be generated for on-screen viewing or printing into either small or large booklets. Please note that I’ve changed the version numbering from the old major.minor format to a date-based format.

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Looking for some Input on M-209 Key Lists

 Crypto Room  2 Responses »
Apr 242013
 
Looking for some Input on M-209 Key Lists

I’m working on a Python script which automatically generates a year’s worth of M-209 keying materials, with daily key changes. I hope that this script and its output will be useful for future M-209 activities, and add a more realistic flair to them.

Now, the big problem is that I’ve never seen actual M-209 key lists. I’ve come up with a plain text format for individual key tables, which I think I picked up from one of the M-209 technical manuals. I know that individual keys were identified by two-letter sequences called “key list indicators”. I know that keys were intended to be changed periodically, possibly daily (or possibly more or less often depending on activity level, but I’m sticking with daily for my purposes). I’ve seen a training film in which an M-209 key list is consulted, but the video transfer of the film is too blurry to make out useful details.

From these details, I’ve inferred what I think a key list might have looked like. I’m hoping to get some input from other crypto enthusiasts about the formatting, wording, etc.

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Practical Use of the M-209 Cipher Machine: Chapter 5

 Crypto Room  11 Responses »
Apr 142013
 
Practical Use of the M-209 Cipher Machine: Chapter 5

This post is part of a series of posts describing practical use of the M-209 cipher machine. The series will cover operation of the machine, setting the cipher key, formatting of messages, ciphering and deciphering messages, dealing with transmission errors, practices to make cryptanalysis (code breaking) of messages more difficult, and generating new key tables.

This chapter covers recognition and deciphering of messages.

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Practical Use of the M-209 Cipher Machine: Chapter 4

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Apr 132013
 
Practical Use of the M-209 Cipher Machine: Chapter 4

This post is part of a series of posts describing practical use of the M-209 cipher machine. The series will cover operation of the machine, setting the cipher key, formatting of messages, ciphering and deciphering messages, dealing with transmission errors, practices to make cryptanalysis (code breaking) of messages more difficult, and generating new key tables.

This chapter covers composition, encipherment and formatting of messages.

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Practical Use of the M-209 Cipher Machine: Chapter 3

 Crypto Room  Comments Off on Practical Use of the M-209 Cipher Machine: Chapter 3
Mar 312013
 
Practical Use of the M-209 Cipher Machine: Chapter 3

This post is part of a series of posts describing practical use of the M-209 cipher machine. The series will cover operation of the machine, setting the cipher key, formatting of messages, ciphering and deciphering messages, dealing with transmission errors, practices to make cryptanalysis (code breaking) of messages more difficult, and generating new key tables.

This chapter covers internal key settings of the M-209.

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Practical Use of the M-209 Cipher Machine: Chapter 2

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Mar 242013
 
Practical Use of the M-209 Cipher Machine: Chapter 2

This post is part of a series of posts describing practical use of the M-209 cipher machine. The series will cover operation of the machine, setting the cipher key, formatting of messages, ciphering and deciphering messages, dealing with transmission errors, practices to make cryptanalysis (code breaking) of messages more difficult, and generating new key tables.

This chapter covers basic operation of the M-209.

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A Collection of M-209 Key Tables

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Mar 242013
 
A Collection of M-209 Key Tables

Inspired by the Enigma World Code Group page, I have created a collection of key tables for the M-209 cipher machine for use by collectors and cryptography enthusiasts. This publicly-available collection of key tables, much like the code sheets on the Enigma World Code Group site, provides a set of ready-to-use M-209 keying material for M-209 aficionados to use. Obviously, openly published key tables don’t provide any real security, but they can be used by hobbyists to exchange M-209 cryptograms without needing to generate and distribute keying materials first. These key tables can be used for educational and entertainment purposes.

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Practical Use of the M-209 Cipher Machine: Chapter 1

 Crypto Room  8 Responses »
Mar 232013
 
Practical Use of the M-209 Cipher Machine: Chapter 1

This post is part of a series of posts describing practical use of the M-209 cipher machine. The series will cover operation of the machine, setting the cipher key, formatting of messages, ciphering and deciphering messages, dealing with transmission errors, practices to make cryptanalysis (code breaking) of messages more difficult, and generating new key tables.

This chapter covers cryptographic basics to help you understand the machine.

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New Release 1.5 of M-209 Simulator Software

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Mar 162013
 
New Release 1.5 of M-209 Simulator Software

I’ve made a new release of my M-209 cipher simulation software:

https://gitlab.com/NF6X_Crypto/hagelin/-/archive/hagelin-1.5/hagelin-hagelin-1.5.tar.gz

Yes, another release. They’re clogging up my front page. Anyway, this minor release adds a user-requested feature and makes another minor change.

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New Release 1.4 of M-209 Simulation Software

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Mar 142013
 
New Release 1.4 of M-209 Simulation Software

I’ve made a new release of my M-209 cipher simulation software:

https://gitlab.com/NF6X_Crypto/hagelin/-/archive/hagelin-1.4/hagelin-hagelin-1.4.tar.gz

This release eliminates the specially-encoded trailer that older versions needed in the key files. It now deciphers the human-readable key table instead, and tries to tolerate minor formatting variations.

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Loading Paper Tape into the Fialka Cipher Machine

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Dec 252011
 
Loading Paper Tape into the Fialka Cipher Machine

A collector who just bought a Fialka cipher machine asked me how to load the paper tape, which is tricky until you’ve done it a few times. Here’s how I load the wide paper tape (for printing and/or punching) into my Czechoslovakian M-125-3 machine. His machine is a Polish M-125, but hopefully the paper path is about the same (I’ve never handled the earlier model of Fialka, so I’m not sure about that). The paper tape path is a bit different when using the narrower print-only paper tape, but I don’t have any to demonstrate with.

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Soviet M-125-3xx “Fialka” Cipher Machine

 Crypto Room  1 Response »
Apr 282010
 
Soviet M-125-3xx "Fialka" Cipher Machine

The “Fialka” is a cipher machine which was made and used by the USSR during the Cold War. I found this one on eBay, and it only required minor repairs to become fully operational. I’ll write more detailed information about it later; in the mean time, here are some pictures of my Fialka. You can also find more details about this kind of machine on Wikipedia.

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KY-38 NESTOR Voice Encryption Device (Demilitarized)

 Crypto Room, Radio Room  3 Responses »
Mar 222009
 
KY-38 NESTOR Voice Encryption Device (Demilitarized)

 

The KY-38 is the manpack variant of the NESTOR family of voice security devices. Used during the Vietnam War, this family included the KY-8 vehicular unit, the KY-28 aircraft unit, and the KY-38 manpack unit. These devices permitted secure voice communications over radio.

This particular unit has been demilitarized; that is, all of the cryptographic hardware has been removed from the unit before it was released as surplus, leaving only the case, power supply, interface circuitry, and an interesting electromechanical keying device. The battery box is also missing.

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