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ChatGPT-6 Astra cracks 85-year-old 1941 Enigma-coded message in two days
Before it started cracking, the LLM developed Python and C++ software for an Enigma simulator and Enigma Bombe.
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A German Army Enigma transmission from 85 years ago, known as the MVUEH message, has been cracked by GTP-Astra in two days, reports the Crypto Cella. MVUEH was sent by the German Army to the SS-Totenkopf (Death’s Head) Division on July 10, 1941, at the height of the Nazi military power in WWII. This uncracked Enigma message was shared with enthusiasts online in 2005, but its secrets had remained concealed until now.
Crypto Cellar researchers highlight that what Astra managed to do in just two days “would take a human researcher weeks or even months.” Currently, the awestruck researchers are still picking through logs to determine how Astra managed this feat and how it did it so quickly.
One of the most impressive things about Astra’s tackling of MVUEH was that it “did it entirely on its own,” says the source. It was merely asked whether it could break any of the unbroken Enigma machine messages published on the Crypto Cellar Research web page. In response, Astra picked Nr. 172, MVUEH as a promising target and thought it might be related to the plaintext of Nr. 173, SIPVX.
With its target decided and expecting the repeated place name "ROSENOW ROSENOW" as a probable plaintext clue, Astra developed Python and C++ software for an Enigma simulator and an Enigma Bombe. Its hunch appears to have been correct. You can see a demo of the radio message being decrypted online at the MVUEHA Cryptanalysis Case Study site (screenshot below).
In brief, the encrypted 82-letter MVUEH cipher looked like this: ICRVSORMCCWQTATYEVFXDBZGGSNXWLPSYWZYTCBSWULRTBZCVGODVJUSLSOOMJQJZSXSEBZPEYMDNXJYTC
Decrypted, with spaces added as appropriate, it looks like this: BTTE UM ANGABE DES MARSQWEGES X BEFINDE MIQ IN X ROSENOW ROSENOW X SOFORT FUNKANTWORT X WASCHBBSCH
An approximate English translation is:Please specify the route of march. I am in Rosenow, Rosenow. Immediate reply by radio
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