3 ms·

Dabbling in the Cryptographic World (1999)

52 points by timdierks 9y ago

wasx 9y ago
> I suspect we all had the feeling that we'd shaken a velvet-gloved hand on friendly terms and sensed that there was steel underneath. Could someone explain what Dennis means when he says this? I didn't really understand the phrase
- schoen 9y ago
  This means that he perceived a threat disguised as politeness.
- oldcynic 9y ago
  The polite, friendly, retired gentleman could neither confirm or deny that life would get rather difficult if publication proceeded. (ie he wanted to make himself clear without stating directly)
  - loup-vaillant 9y ago
    I seldom get that kind of hint. I bet I would have published the damn paper, not because I'd felt it would be my duty as a scientist or citizen, but out of sheer obliviousness to possible consequences.
- pjc50 9y ago
  It's an idiom: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/an-iron-hand-fist-in-a-velvet-glove https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/an-iron-...
dang 9y ago
Url changed from https://web.archive.org/web/19990220131246/http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/dmr/crypt.html https://web.archive.org/web/19990220131246/http://cm.bell-la..., which points to this.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
acqq 9y ago
At the end of the paper there's a specific hint what was behind NSA's non-wilingness to be explicit, at that time, as Crypto AG from Switzerland is mentioned. Wikipedia has some details about Crypto AG which are a good afterword to the DMR's article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto_AG#Compromised_machines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto_AG#Compromised_machines
philprx 9y ago
AFAIK, "Thus the current citation for it is J. Reeds, D. Ritchie, R. Morris, "The Hagelin Cipher Machine (M-209): Cryptanalysis from Ciphertext Alone", unpublished technical memorandum, Bell Laboratories, 1978. Submitted to Cryptologia." has been published in 2015: http://cryptome.org/2015/12/ReedsTheHagelinCipherBellLabs1978.pdf http://cryptome.org/2015/12/ReedsTheHagelinCipherBellLabs197...

52 points by timdierks 9y ago

wasx 9y ago

> I suspect we all had the feeling that we'd shaken a velvet-gloved hand on friendly terms and sensed that there was steel underneath. Could someone explain what Dennis means when he says this? I didn't really understand the phrase

schoen 9y ago
This means that he perceived a threat disguised as politeness.
oldcynic 9y ago
The polite, friendly, retired gentleman could neither confirm or deny that life would get rather difficult if publication proceeded. (ie he wanted to make himself clear without stating directly)
- loup-vaillant 9y ago
  I seldom get that kind of hint. I bet I would have published the damn paper, not because I'd felt it would be my duty as a scientist or citizen, but out of sheer obliviousness to possible consequences.
pjc50 9y ago
It's an idiom: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/an-iron-hand-fist-in-a-velvet-glove https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/an-iron-...

dang 9y ago

Url changed from https://web.archive.org/web/19990220131246/http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/dmr/crypt.html https://web.archive.org/web/19990220131246/http://cm.bell-la..., which points to this.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

acqq 9y ago

At the end of the paper there's a specific hint what was behind NSA's non-wilingness to be explicit, at that time, as Crypto AG from Switzerland is mentioned. Wikipedia has some details about Crypto AG which are a good afterword to the DMR's article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto_AG#Compromised_machines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto_AG#Compromised_machines

philprx 9y ago

AFAIK, "Thus the current citation for it is J. Reeds, D. Ritchie, R. Morris, "The Hagelin Cipher Machine (M-209): Cryptanalysis from Ciphertext Alone", unpublished technical memorandum, Bell Laboratories, 1978. Submitted to Cryptologia." has been published in 2015: http://cryptome.org/2015/12/ReedsTheHagelinCipherBellLabs1978.pdf http://cryptome.org/2015/12/ReedsTheHagelinCipherBellLabs197...