Emails
Dear Dr. Daimi,
My name is Erin Jacobs, I am a high school student at Seaholm High Shool in Birmingham, Mi. I am doing a project on code breaking during WWII and am looking into the role of codebreaking in the modern world. Is there any insight or advice you can offer on the subject? Some of my focus questions include,
What roles does code breaking play in modern military and society?
How is modern cryptanalysis influenced by the technology of the WWII era?
How have we utilized modern technology to further our code breaking abilities?
Thank you,
Erin Jacobs
Dear Erin,
Thank you for your email. Below are the answers to your questions:
1. What roles does code breaking play in modern military and society?
Attacking systems and data of any organization will reveal their secrets
and will be used for the benefits of the attacker. "Benefits" depend on the
system. For example, if it has to do with bank accounts, the benefits will
be monetary. If it was students grades, it would be changing their grades
to better grades or to lower grades for others if they want to cause
problems.
2. How is modern cryptanalysis influenced by the technology of the WWII era?
WWWII era first tells us that we can break codes. In science and
technology, advances are built upon current advances. Therefore,
cryptanalysis right after WWWII era was influenced by that era, and so on.
If not good at all, at least it warned us that things can be broken and
therefore we should continuously improve our security techniques to make
things more and more secure.
3. How have we utilized modern technology to further out code breaking
abilities?
Improvement in mathematics resulted in better cryptanalysis techniques.
Improvement in computer science resulted in faster techniques. Improvements
in hardware resulted in better hardware security which also made the bad
guys improve their hardware attack techniques. I advise you to search for
"Software Cryptanalysis" and "hardware Cryptanalysis" to get further
information.
I hope this brief info is useful to you. By the way, how did you know I
might be able to help you?
Regards,
Dr. Kevin Daimi
Professor and Director
Computer Science and Software Engineering Programs
Department of Mathematics, Computer Science and Software Engineering
University of Detroit Mercy
Detroit, MI, 48221-3038
___________________________________________________________________
Dear Srgt. Stricklen,
In my WWII class we are doing a project on code breaking surfing the war, and I'm looking into modern military code breaking as part of my project. Is there any insight you can offer into the role of code breaking/ cryptanalysis in the army today? Is it any part of the ROTC course too? Thank you!
Hey Erin,
I'm actually a Major in the National Guard, but a civilian at Wofford. Anyway, modern code breaking is alive and well but outside of my specialty (I'm a Combat Engineer). There is a specific Military Occupational Specialty (job) inside the Army's intelligence branch that handles that for us. Here is a link to a job description for that MOS:
http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/browse-career-and-job-categories/intelligence-and-combat-support/cryptologic-network-warfare-specialist.html
I spoke to an Military Intelligence officer and she told me that they did not go into details about that field at her branch school.
The ROTC curriculum is far more general in nature. Cadets don't specialize until they commission and get their branch (job). Sorry I couldn't help more.
Have a great week,
Simon Stricklen
Enrollment and Scholarship Officer
Wofford College Army ROTC
Department of the Army Civilian
___________________________________________________________________________
Dear Mr. Sloan,
My name is Erin Jacobs, I will be attending Wofford as a freshman next year.
I am doing a project in school about code breaking during WWII, and am looking into modern code breaking and cryptanalysis. While researching, I came across your web page and saw that there was a unit on cryptanalysis. Is there any insight you can give me into the role of code breaking in the modern world?
Thank you,
Erin Jacobs
Seaholm High School
Birmingham MI
That is a pretty vague and open ended question.
May I suggest you look at the writings of Bruce Schneier. You might start at his website: https://www.schneier.com/
Schneier is very opinionated and I don't always agree with him, but he is fun to read and his positions are well thought out.
My name is Erin Jacobs, I am a high school student at Seaholm High Shool in Birmingham, Mi. I am doing a project on code breaking during WWII and am looking into the role of codebreaking in the modern world. Is there any insight or advice you can offer on the subject? Some of my focus questions include,
What roles does code breaking play in modern military and society?
How is modern cryptanalysis influenced by the technology of the WWII era?
How have we utilized modern technology to further our code breaking abilities?
Thank you,
Erin Jacobs
Dear Erin,
Thank you for your email. Below are the answers to your questions:
1. What roles does code breaking play in modern military and society?
Attacking systems and data of any organization will reveal their secrets
and will be used for the benefits of the attacker. "Benefits" depend on the
system. For example, if it has to do with bank accounts, the benefits will
be monetary. If it was students grades, it would be changing their grades
to better grades or to lower grades for others if they want to cause
problems.
2. How is modern cryptanalysis influenced by the technology of the WWII era?
WWWII era first tells us that we can break codes. In science and
technology, advances are built upon current advances. Therefore,
cryptanalysis right after WWWII era was influenced by that era, and so on.
If not good at all, at least it warned us that things can be broken and
therefore we should continuously improve our security techniques to make
things more and more secure.
3. How have we utilized modern technology to further out code breaking
abilities?
Improvement in mathematics resulted in better cryptanalysis techniques.
Improvement in computer science resulted in faster techniques. Improvements
in hardware resulted in better hardware security which also made the bad
guys improve their hardware attack techniques. I advise you to search for
"Software Cryptanalysis" and "hardware Cryptanalysis" to get further
information.
I hope this brief info is useful to you. By the way, how did you know I
might be able to help you?
Regards,
Dr. Kevin Daimi
Professor and Director
Computer Science and Software Engineering Programs
Department of Mathematics, Computer Science and Software Engineering
University of Detroit Mercy
Detroit, MI, 48221-3038
___________________________________________________________________
Dear Srgt. Stricklen,
In my WWII class we are doing a project on code breaking surfing the war, and I'm looking into modern military code breaking as part of my project. Is there any insight you can offer into the role of code breaking/ cryptanalysis in the army today? Is it any part of the ROTC course too? Thank you!
Hey Erin,
I'm actually a Major in the National Guard, but a civilian at Wofford. Anyway, modern code breaking is alive and well but outside of my specialty (I'm a Combat Engineer). There is a specific Military Occupational Specialty (job) inside the Army's intelligence branch that handles that for us. Here is a link to a job description for that MOS:
http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/browse-career-and-job-categories/intelligence-and-combat-support/cryptologic-network-warfare-specialist.html
I spoke to an Military Intelligence officer and she told me that they did not go into details about that field at her branch school.
The ROTC curriculum is far more general in nature. Cadets don't specialize until they commission and get their branch (job). Sorry I couldn't help more.
Have a great week,
Simon Stricklen
Enrollment and Scholarship Officer
Wofford College Army ROTC
Department of the Army Civilian
___________________________________________________________________________
Dear Mr. Sloan,
My name is Erin Jacobs, I will be attending Wofford as a freshman next year.
I am doing a project in school about code breaking during WWII, and am looking into modern code breaking and cryptanalysis. While researching, I came across your web page and saw that there was a unit on cryptanalysis. Is there any insight you can give me into the role of code breaking in the modern world?
Thank you,
Erin Jacobs
Seaholm High School
Birmingham MI
That is a pretty vague and open ended question.
May I suggest you look at the writings of Bruce Schneier. You might start at his website: https://www.schneier.com/
Schneier is very opinionated and I don't always agree with him, but he is fun to read and his positions are well thought out.