[145535] in cryptography@c2.net mail archive
Venona
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven Bellovin)
Sat Jul 31 18:07:31 2010
From: Steven Bellovin <smb@cs.columbia.edu>
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2010 23:50:19 +0200
To: Cryptography List <cryptography@metzdowd.com>
I'm currently reading "Defend the Realm", an authorized history oF MI-5 =
by a historian who had access to their secret files. The chapter on =
Venona has the following fascinating footnote: "The method of decryption =
is summarized in a number of NSA publications, among them the account by =
Cecil James Phillips of NSA, 'What Made Venona Possible?' References to =
this account does not imply that it is corroborated by HMG or any =
British intelligence agency."
I've always been a bit skeptical of NSA's story of how the system was =
broken, which makes me wonder if there's some other reason for that =
disclaimer... (Grumpy aside: I have the full text of the ebook =
(borrowed from the NY Public Library) on my laptop. However, I couldn't =
copy and paste the quotation, even though it's obviously fair use -- the =
DRM software wouldn't let me...)
--Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb
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