Hi Michael > On Aug 13, 2026, at 11:41, Michael Meeropol via groups.io > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Would be curious what comrades think of it
There are a number of thoughts that I have, but there is one that I have learned and taught in the past: It concerns the "one-time pad" cryptographic device that was in use during that time. The one-time pad was the perfect encryption system, unlike what we use today, but we no longer use it today because of a big drawback: The one-time pad required reams of random numbers for encryption with the same random number used to encrypt on one side serving to decrypt on the other. Soviet staff would travel to each embassy with big books filled with random numbers. For every character sent and received, a random number was needed. In the 40s and 50s, generating so many random numbers was time-consuming and expensive. And each random number, once used for encryption/decryption, cannot be reused without exposing the encrypted character to cryptanalysis. The story that I heard was that the Mexican Embassy and Moscow were reusing the random numbers in the encryption of reports that were sent on a transatlantic cable. US spies were collecting all the data sent on that cable and detected that Mexico and Moscow were reusing the one-time pad of random numbers. That was how they were able to decrypt the messages on the cable and determine that Julius worked as a spy for the USSR. True? This story seem to imply that Greenglass lied or did not tell the US government anything that they did not already know. Mark -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#42991): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/42991 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/120737941/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
