Cryptologic Bytes

In her book, "Parker Hitt: The Father of American Cryptology," (pub March 2022) - Betsy Rohaly Smoot brings Hitt’s legacy to life, chronicling his upbringing, multiple careers, ingenious mind, and independent spirit. Click on the book cover to learn more.

NCF President & CEO Laura Nelson had a great time recording a talk with Iron Butterfly, a podcast named for Eloise Page, the first female Chief of Station at CIA who was known being a fierce fighter with a core of steel. Iron Butterfly tells the stories of women in the intelligence community. Check out Laura's episode (5/11/2021) called "Crypto Raven": https://bit.ly/3oizfrz

Dr. Loyce Pailen, a doctor of management and senior director of the Center for Security Studies at University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC), has more than 35 years of experience in information technology, including work in cybersecurity, software development, project management, telecommunications, risk management, and network and systems security and administration. In addition to her work in the field, Dr. Pailen is the author of “Super Cybersecurity Grandma,” a fabulous book series that introduces children to cybersecurity and online safety. Her series has helped to educate children around the world about topics related to cybersecurity. Read more about her via our Female Pioneers page.

In early December 2020, an international trio of codebreakers solved the Zodiac Killer's 340-character cipher. Learn about how they solved it from David Oranchak, one of the codebreakers.

NCMF Board Member Elonka Dunin co-authored a compelling book on codebreaking with Klaus Schmeh. Codebreaking: A Practical Guide, published in December 2020, describes the most common encryption techniques along with methods to detect and break them. It fills a gap left by outdated or very basic-level books.

On January 11, 2021, PBS will premiere a documentary film "The Codebreaker," about Elizebeth Smith Friedman. Visit the PBS site to watch the extended trailer and to see additional clips about Elizebeth Smith Friedman and her husband, William Friedman.

In this Johns Hopkins University HUB article by Doug Donovan - we learn about the Cyber Attack Predictive Index devised by computer science professor Anton Dahbura along with cybersecurity lecturer Dr. Terry Thompson and former undergraduate Divya Rangarajan.

This History.com article by Jesse Greenspan explores the origins of the Native American Code Talkers & how an overheard conversation between two Choctaw Indian soldiers serving in World War I led to a code that confounded German forces.

"The Use of Force for State Power: History and Future" by Michael Warner and John Childress, (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020) studies force, the coercive application of power against resistance, building from Thomas Hobbes’ observation that all self-contained political orders have some ultimate authority that uses force to both dispense justice and to defend the polity against its enemies. The authors of the book were also the keynote speakers for the NCMF's 2020 Annual Symposium, held virtually in October 2020.

As author Dr. A. Ray Miller put it, this monograph "derives...the exact number of theoretical cyptographic key settings and machine configurations for the Enigma cipher machine. Click to learn more and to read the publication.