Pointers on Historical Cryptanalysis

John Young jya at pipeline.com
Tue, 05 Mar 2002 11:47:52 -0800


We ask for pointers to information and/or publications 
on operations and systems outlined in Peter Wright's 
"Spycatcher":

1. The Radio Operations Committee.

2. ENGULF and STOCKADE operations against,
respectively, the Egyptian and French embassy 
cipher systems and the methods of acquiring 
cipher machine signals and emanations.

3. Wright uses the term "radio illumination" in connection
with ENGULF and STOCKADE. What does this term
mean and what is its technology? Over what distance
is it effective? How does this differ from TEMPEST
technology?

4. Ergonomic Theory of cryptanalysis associated with
GCHQ's Hugh Alexander. Alexander's supposition is
that with sufficiently powerful computers any random
number generated by human participation can be 
broken through persistent search for the unavoidable 
signature of human participation.

Thanks very much.