Cryptanalytic computer

Computer

A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

s are computers designed to be used for cryptanalysis

Cryptanalysis

Cryptanalysis is the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information, without access to the secret information that is normally required to do so. Typically, this involves knowing how the system works and finding a secret key...

. Modern cryptanalysis involves massive statistical analysis and multiple trial decryptions. These are possible only with automated equipment. This has been true since before WWII; Polish cryptanalysts designed and built automated aids in their work on Enigma

Enigma

An enigma is a type of riddle generally expressed in radical or allegorical language that requires ingenuity and careful thought for its solution.Enigma, aenigma, or enigmatic may also refer to:-Music:...

 traffic. Arguably, the first modern computer (digital, electronic, programmable (sort of)) was built for cryptanalytic work at Bletchley Park

Bletchley Park

Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...

 (the Colossus

Colossus computer

Not to be confused with the fictional computer of the same name in the movie Colossus: The Forbin Project.Colossus was the world's first electronic, digital, programmable computer. Colossus and its successors were used by British codebreakers to help read encrypted German messages during World War II...

) during the war. More modern computers were important after WWII, and some machines (eg, the Cray-1

Cray-1

The Cray-1 was a supercomputer designed, manufactured, and marketed by Cray Research. The first Cray-1 system was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1976, and it went on to become one of the best known and most successful supercomputers in history...

) are reported to have had machine instructions hardwired in at the request of NSA.

Computers continue to be important in cryptanalysis well into the 21st century. NSA, in fact, is said to have the largest number of installed computers on the planet. Whether or not this is true in an age of Google

Google

Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

 computer farms and such remains publicly unknown.

See also

• HARVEST
  Harvest
  Harvest is the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper...
  
  
• Colossus computer
  Colossus computer
  Not to be confused with the fictional computer of the same name in the movie Colossus: The Forbin Project.Colossus was the world's first electronic, digital, programmable computer. Colossus and its successors were used by British codebreakers to help read encrypted German messages during World War II...
  
  
• Bombe
  Bombe
  The bombe was an electromechanical device used by British cryptologists to help decipher German Enigma-machine-encrypted signals during World War II...
  
  
• Bomba (cryptography)
  Bomba (cryptography)
  The bomba, or bomba kryptologiczna was a special-purpose machine designed about October 1938 by Polish Cipher Bureau cryptologist Marian Rejewski to break German Enigma-machine ciphers....
  
  
• Deep crack
• FROSTBURG
  FROSTBURG
  FROSTBURG was a Connection Machine 5 supercomputer used by the US National Security Agency to perform higher-level mathematical calculations. The CM-5 was built by the Thinking Machines Corporation, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at a cost of US$25 million. The system was installed at NSA in...