Intro to Cyber security (Homeland and Border Security)
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is located in Buckinghamshire Britain and was used as a main decryption center during the World War Two. Ciphers and codes from several countries were decrypted here like those created by German Enigman and Lorenz. The code breaking center served several legends like Alan Turing and Tommy Flowers. Bletchley Park was structured into huts and arranged into compartments. In these parts, varied processes took place like cracking codes, more precisely the German enigma code (Copeland, and Proudfoot, 2010). Station X took up the main task that was code breaking.
The stations comprised of station Y that intercepted information transmitted, while hut 6 changed the decrypted letters into German readable words. Additionally, both hut 3 and 4 were known as the intelligence huts as they focused on how messages were to be applied, while hut 11 undertook supporting processes. With regard to the sensitivity of the process, accuracy and reliability was of great consideration. The people that worked in Bletchley Park were from the upper class as they could easily be trusted and were intelligent (McKay, 2011). Additionally, any claims of being spies could not be levelled against them.
The Park started as an old boy’s network that developed into a British center. This made it possible for them to acquire skilled and experienced people like linguists, code breakers and mathematicians and people who were able to solve issues like classicists and historians (Grey, 2012). Those who headed the center had to have military experience while there were Wrens who were charged with setting up bombs and women clerk who were supposed to undertake filing and typing. With regard to this wide range of employees, Bletchley Park had the ability to meet all of the needs in varied areas and circumstances that meant what they did produced good results hence could be reliable.
Bletchley Park was divided into departments, stating the huge number of people working in the center and the division that involved all of them working on varied parts of the machine and codes. The sources A, D, F and G showed the level of work that was done. The work was well structured and controlled and in a gradual process they broke the Enigma (Copeland and Proudfoot, 2010). The messages transmitted by the Germans was dependent on the machine and after he codes were deciphered it was easy to know what was being passed. The machine revealed what was taking place and if one understood the machine, it meant that they could predict an opponent’s next step. Ultra was used to find the position of the U-boats and lead to their destruction.
Ultra helped to facilitate details regarding the size, organization and state of the German army. This showed that the allied military was well finished on details regarding the enemy. Moreover, the win that was acquired by Bletchley Park in cracking ‘Fish’ meant that the allies similarly were able to access the most sensitive of information between Berlin and their commanders.
Ultra offered information that was of great significance regarding the enemy forces for the past half a decade of the war. This was however, not a continuous process as there were times where the codes could not be found, however, it came to be more consistent and offered more detail (Grey, 2012). The data provided by Station X made it possible for the Allied forced to escape attacks and subsequently win the war. However, the decoding could not win wars, it only facilitated it and left the rest to the commanders that planned the attacks.
Personnel Problems
There were a number of problems that faced early code breaking, the British cryptologists were involved in extensive efforts to decode German communications with little success. The decoding involved old codes that were used for low security data that were noted and broken by the staff at Bletchley Park, there newer codes that were broken using mathematical processes, however this involved hands which proved a hard tedious task (Copeland and Proudfoot, 2010). The length of time used to break them was long, an after they were broken and the data was well understood, the information was outdated. Adding to this problem, these intercepts provided limited significant intelligence. In the 1930s, the Germans used complicated cipher machines to conceal their data.
There were organizational problems in Bletchley Park in the course of the Second World War from the varied bodies that took part. There were government agencies both foreign and home, Security Intelligence Service and M16 respectively. Later in 1919 a Government Codes and Ciphers School (GC&CS) was formed which fell under the Naval Intelligence. It later shifted to the Foreign Office. Prior to the Second World War, these group as well as the Navy, Air Force and Army were independent and not interacting (Hinsley and Stripp, 2001). GC&CS was intended to decrypt and break codes and not to offer intelligence. The problem was there was little interception from foreign forces though there existed extensive diplomatic presence. Hence, there arose a conflict between the Naval and Army leaders and GC&CS that lay in administrative organization.
Another issue was the spies who infiltrated Bletchley Park. This was made easy since, in the British recruitment they looks for young people who were against the German. This was risky as most of pro Communists would get into Bletchley Park and the Cambridge spies would have connections with the code breakers. Anthony Blunt was one such spy who was gotten due to his expertise in German and was placed to work in air intelligence intercepts based in Hut 3. Blunt offered the Soviets with decoded data and M15 grew with doubts about him. Another one was Kim Philby who after a failed recruitment, was involved with a lady that worked in the intelligence center. Leo Long was another one who was charged with evaluation of the German army (Hinsley and Stripp, 2001). He passed information from Bletchley Park which comprised of information given to Blunt. Another one was Herbert Hart who passed out summaries at varied locations for the Soviet controller. However, the details provided only served to show that the British were able to read the German signals, they were not able to know of the mode used.
Products of Bletchley Park
The work taking place at Bletchley Park was of great significance to the results of the Second World War as it had a great impact on most of the battles at the time. For instance, the invasion that took place at Crete was a success to Bletchley Park even though the war was a loss for British army as it showed the ability of Bletchley Park. There were other operations that resulted to successes like the sinking of the Bismarck of the German was attributed to Bletchley
Bletchley Park as they were able to know it was headed to France and not Germany. Additionally, Bletchley Park facilitated in the win in Africa as they blocked supply lines and played roles in RAF to drop bombs in pacific regions (Grey, 2012). They similarly were significant in the D-Day through decoding a lengthy message that informed of the location of the Germans and where they were going to be located. The Americans intended to drop their forces at Normandy, however, due to the intelligence they were able to save many lives. Bletchley Park was important in decoding messages and due to this, the strategy employed by the Germans were faulty and counteracted.
In 1942, General Dontiz who headed the German Navy knew the Enigma had been broken, hence in response he added another wheel to Enigma machine. This stated that Bletchley Park could not anymore break the Naval Enigma. In the course of 1942, the Allied ships that sunk increased at a high rate. Come December, Bletchley Park was able to break the new ‘Shark’ Enigma code (Lowe, 2010). This was since when they directed information to non-Navy areas, they still had to make use of the first 3 wheel machine so that when they get interjected, they could decode the three wheels and use bombe for the new one.
Conclusion
Bletchley Park took up a very crucial role in the Second World War, and its absence could have meant that the war would be different. This entails to the skills, staff and experience as well as tools used. Varied people have varied roles that they played which, as discussed above, even with the spy infiltration they were unable to figure out the next move by the British Forces. This was attributed to the well organization of the Bletchley Park and the little interaction that was allowed between the staff. Consequently, after the breaking of the German Enigma code, the details provided by Bletchley Park proved significant in the war as it facilitated in varied areas. This went ahead to affect the current life as we know it today in regards to computer technology and cyber security.
The British center for intelligence was created into one of the brightest talent of the time that led to the computer. When the war came to an end, it was not just a collection of specialists, but an effective combination that depended to a less extent on the intellect but on the method and hard work accorded to it. Just like the British war and dedication placed on it, it had changed from an amateur tool to a machine that offered professional data or intelligence.
Bletchley Park was composition of several people from mathematicians, lecturers, and military to debutants. They all played varied roles in the code breaking and issuing intelligence to the British army. For instance, they acquired success due to the weaknesses that was attributed to the key establishment processes and from analysis of traffic where keys were broken. While Great significance was to how they were able to keep a secret from many families. Even with research showing that the Bletchley Park was broken due to the spies that passed out information to the German forces, they were unable to figure out the method used. Further adding to the significance of the team and machine that was assembled. In the present world of media gossip, it is quite hard to imagine a secret that was well kept for such a long period.
Several researchers claim that, John Herivel, charged with the first break through of the war, was claimed as doing nothing during the war. Validly, he played a huge role in code breaking and issuing huge leads to the British army and other intelligence forces details that of huge significance in the war. Even with the slight infiltration by the spies, this did little of what the British were doing or were to do next. Since, the code breakers were only tasked with breaking the codes and not giving the direction on how to handle the situation.
Certain authors like Nicole Kobie (2013), she describes the setting the Bletchley Park workers were to be in a bad state. She describes the employees of not sleeping and working throughout the night to break codes. This however cannot be so as this would have broken them down and none would have recruited to part of the programme (Kobie, 2013). The employees were only supposed to not interacting with others between themselves and other departments. This was significant as it safeguarded against any infiltration of the data acquired and what steps would be taken by the forces.
What took place in Bletchley Park is popular as it marked the use of computer and its use in decipher codes. Currently, the security systems are tight and would really be hard to break, considering the weak keys used in the German enigma, currently technology makes it hard to break as attributed to the advanced technology that is always developing.
References
Copeland, B.J. and Proudfoot, D. (2010). Deviant Encodings and Turing’s analysis of computability. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 41(3): 247-252.
Grey, C. (2012). Decoding Organization: Bletchley Park, Codebreaking an Organization Studies. Cambridge: Cambidge University Press 34(10), 322.
Hinsley, F. and Stripp, A. Eds. (2001).Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kobie, N. (2013). The rotten side of Bletchley Park: a photo story. Retrieved on 25th November 2013, from http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2013/04/12/the-rotten-side-of-bletchley-park-a- photo-story/
Lowe, K. (2010). The Secret Life of Bletchley Park by Sinclair McKay: review. Retrieved on 25th November 2013, from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/7904262/The-Secret-Life-of- Bletchley-Park-by-Sinclair-McKay-review.html
McKay, S. (2011).The Secret Life of Bletchley Park: The WWII Codebreaking Centre and the Men and Women Who Worked There. Greenland Press: Aurum Press Ltd.
