Browse Items (14 total)

The TypeX was an electromechanical cipher machine used by the British during WWII. It was devloped by Wing Commander O.G.W. Lywood, with the first production batch delivered to the RAF in 1937. As a British variant of the Enigma, versions of it came…

The Culper Code Book was used during The American Revolutionary War in 1778 by George Washington's Culper Spy Ring. Developed by Ben Tallmadge, it consisted of 763 numerical codes to represent various words, names, and locations. This code book was…

SIGABA was an electro-mechanical cipher machine created in the late 1930s by the US Army and Navy. It was considered an impressive cryptomachine in that time period to the degree that it was used throughout WWII and into the 1950s.

By the end of…

The scytale is known as the first cryptographic device, used in 400 B.C. by the Spartans. It consisted of a baton and a papyrus strips with letters. These papyrus strips would only reveal the message sent between Spartan generals if the baton they…

PURPLE was a Japanese cipher machine used during WWII and based off the Enigma's rotor technology. While it was developed in 1937 with four rotors (compared to the Enigma's three), it was broken only a few years later in 1940 without being seen by…

NESTOR is the NSA-developed speech encryption used by American forces during the Vietnamese War. The encryption was compatible between several devices, including the KY-38 manpack unit, KY-8 vehicular unit, and KY-28 aircraft unit.

The M-94 was a cipher device based off the polyalphabetic manual substitution cipher. It was created by US Army major Joseph Mauborgne in 1917 with inspiration from a similar device invented by Thomas Jefferson in 1795. In 1921, it was introduced to…

The M-209 was a cipher machine invented by Boris Hagelin or AB Cryptoteknik at the beginning of WWII. As a pin-and-lug cipher machine, it did not require electricity. During the war, German cryptanalysts called the machine "AM-1" for "American…

The Lorenz cipher machine was developed by Lorenz and used in WWII by the German Army High Command. Hilter used it to communicate with his generals. This cipher machine was dubbed "TUNNY" by British codebreakers at Bletchly Park. In August 1941, Bill…

The Giddings Field Message Book was used in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. Designed by Major Howard A. Giddings of the Brigadier Signal Officer Office of the Connecticut National Guard, it composed of a pocket pad with a built in US Army…