Enigma Cipher Device Still Holds Secrets for Cyber Pros

Enigma cipher machines have endured in the minds of history buffs and cryptography hobbyists for more than a century, still discovered at dusty French flea markets and dredged up from under beach sludge by treasure hunters. And a dive at this year's upcoming RSAC Conference into lessons the Enigma can teach today's defenders suggests cybersecurity professionals should keep the history of the Nazis' hubris and failure of imagination in mind. 

The Enigma machine was created by German Arthur Scherbius in 1918 as a way to protect sensitive information coming across telegraph lines for banks and business. A quirky-looking typewriter, it could be used to code and decode messages easily. Scherbius's device was subsequently nationalized and modified by the Nazis to add even more complexity to the cryptography, and was used with wild success in the German war effort — until 1932 ...