charli@cylixd.UUCP (Charli Phillips) (05/02/86)
>> Assuming the information about breaking new Libyan codes within weeks >> is correct, does that imply that the NSA is >> stellar at the job it does, or that the Libyans use weak >> crypto-systems? > >The Libyans use weak crypto-systems. > I have read (and unfortunately can't find the reference at the moment) that the Libyans weren't using a crypto-system at all, but a language, Berber. Only a handful of Libyans speak this language, and very few people anywhere else. We did the same thing in WWII, with Navajo. It worked for us, because no Navajo expatriates (if there were any) decided to work as a translator for Japan or Germany. Unfortunately for the Libyans, at least one Berber expatriate works as a translator for the NSA. regards, Charli Phillips
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (05/07/86)
> ... We did the same thing in WWII, with Navajo. It > worked for us, because no Navajo expatriates (if there were any) decided > to work as a translator for Japan or Germany... One of the reasons Navajo was picked, as I recall, was that it was possible to confirm that no German or Japanese citizen or resident spoke it well. (Other reasons: large tribe with a considerable number of draft-age men; difficult language that non-native speakers find hard to learn and impossible to pronounce precisely enough to pass as a native.) Also, it was used for tactical communications in a large war, where one or two enemy citizens knowing it would not have been a disastrous defect. -- Join STRAW: the Society To Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology Revile Ada Wholeheartedly {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry