SECRET CIPHERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12407, 27 August 1918, Page 3

SECRET CIPHERS.

CODES USED BV GERMAN SPIES. INGENIOUS SCHEMES HARD TO DETECT. (“ Everybody’s Magazine.’’) A highly remarkable article bv Melville Davisson Post deals with the amazing ingenuity of German cipher codes which have succeeded in evading id I censorship. It soon became evident to tho Wilholmstrassc that the antiquated secret cipher wouldn’t do in this war. And it knew perfectly well that wlien tho English Government cut it of Iron, communication with tho wi oi Id no jumble of words and no arrangement of signs or figures could be seni, out. It, therefore, determined to abandon this secret form of communinUol' : *. l! l° develop a new code. Ihc prime factor in the new code must ho that tho message should have no indication on its lace of any hidden or secret meaning.. On its'face, it must be some torm of the usual personal or business message) If a proper system were devised no censorship could exclude the communication ol the Gorman agent. The only remedy against him was to close the mails and cables to everybody. Having realised tins fact, the German exports were not long in WORKING OUT THE CODES. Iho uar has gone on for nearly four years. During the whole of this time uio German Government seems to have neen m no manner embarrassed in its methods ot communication with its sccret agents, and it seems to have been ulty and thoroughly informed with respect to every movement of its enemies. lor example, a knit sweater, was sent mto Germany from one of the belligerent countries to a prisoner at Geisen. Hie sweater did not roach the prisoner/ And t i( i '• VOI 1 C ° f a Gcnilan agent, and it contained a summary of the natal preparedness under way-ships » >oi|t to ho launched am l t-I !0 Lumbor ot those under, construction. ,\JI this information was carried to the German -- V knit STCater i although the went rv m,njl f iU ii tllol m, ies ,im ’arclicd waUMI 7 • Caroful, - r - Tllc a-oohthread Mas lull o innumerable knots. nnSr* lp ,ab ? t - S I>lnced in; a vertical position, beginning 12iu above tho sine ' T ° tcr , the dimension.-, of tvvo inches, B superimposed fSA’. imdso 0,1; to thft 0,1(1 of thc To read the cipher, one holds the end ol the wool thread at the floor and observes what letter is touched hy thc first knot, extending the thread upward along the line of the alphabet. Ho then places ibis knot ah the floor and observes the letter touched bv the second, and so on. It is an ingenious cipher and not apt t 0 be detected. Another means of communication with her agents that Germany has kept open despite the most rigid censorshipTHE GEOMETRICAL CODE, suppose the geometrical figure, for example, to be an equilateral triangle, the dimensions of the sheet of paper, at the bottom of the shoot, is tho base oi the triangle. This is sufficient data with which to construct the other two sides, and the message appears from tuo words which theso lines touch-; reaping up the loft arm of the triam-ie ami down the right. II the iigure is a simple circle it i-t-he largest circle that can bo placed upon the sheet of paper on which the Jotter is written, or it is the largest circle that can bo drawn on the sheet of paper at a certain equal distance on all sides trom the border. But. ns a rule,, thc geometrical figure would he a little more complicates THE BOOK CIPHER, Tho following is an example of the j book cipher wnich is frequently useu by the Gorman spies : Two persons having a copy of a die- I lionary of the same edition make up • tho message which they send by The ] number of the page and the number of i the words counted, down the column ol i the page. _f ur ex-ample, the, word j ship ■ might be 30-Jt; 30 being the • j number ot the page and 17 thc number. 1 of t-ho lino on which tho word “ship”) appears in the book used as a cipher. : in Hie opening ot the war, whom .the, English were, treating the ’ captured'. German officers as courteous enemies}one oi these devices, it is said, was) made use of for getting information', out of England with respect to English, destroyers, their number and equipment. An officer pretended to be interested in the English game of golf. He endeavoured to learn it and appeared to be exceedingly enthusiastic. The. letters whiclp ho was permitted to send out to his wife in Dresden wove filed with details of the game, which permitted an abundance of figures mi strokes and distances. Important information, with respect to the Englisli Admiralty, was conveyed to the German Staff through the medium of the apparently harmless letters- of this convert to the English game. The hook used for the cipher was a certain .English edition of Shakespeare of which there was a copy in the Dresden Public Library.—“ Everybody's Magazine.”.