Before we get any further, lets just work through the cryptographic context, and make sure that we aren't raving mad.



Don't worry if the following all sounds like gobbledy-gook, because it probably is. The bottom line is that because the intended use of the device is to generate passwords, and you only ever transmit those password securely, then it is easier to capture the passwords than it is to break the cipher.



You can now safely skip to the next step.



But if you would like some more detailed cryptoanaylsis on the use of this device, read on.



First up, the device is intended to be a generator of passwords. That is, by taking something much easier to remember, we encipher it and use the cipher text as the password. This means that the plain text is never revealed to anyone. It also means that we never need to write anything down.



Further, since the device does not actually store any passwords, it should not breach any of the usual military password dongle guidelines, which generally expressly forbid the storage of any sensitive password in any device, electronic, paper or otherwise. That is to say, my paper Enigma(tm)-like machine should be capable of approval for military use! If anyone would like to fund the certification, I'd love to hear from you :)



Also, the cipher text is only conveyed on the kind of channels that you would use to carry a password, we have a further protection. Add to that the generally short length of passwords, especially when they are composed of pseudo-random characters, and the usual Enigma attacks that were used so successfully during the second world war become impossible: (a) there is no (or at worst, little) capturable traffic to analyse; and (b) even if the traffic were captured, the message length is too short compared with the cycle length to undertake any extensive analysis.



In particular, because the cipher text is only sent on channels that are ordinarily depended upon as being secure, compromising the cipher requires first obtaining the passwords that it is protecting, even if it the cipher was only ROT13!



Thus, the security is predicated on the secrecy of the plain text, and the security of the transmission channels, rather on the operation of the enciphering device itself. What the device offers is a means of transforming a low-quality password into a high-quality password, plus a fair bit of geek cred along the way.



But let's move onto the operation of the device itself, and protocols of operation, to assure ourselves that the cipher is a sensible one, and offers some security in and of itself.



The device consists of two fixed rotors and a reflector, plus an outer index ring. This is somewhat simpler than the real Enigma machines that used three or four rotors which could be rearranged and selected from a selection, and generally featured a plug-board as well. However, we do use an alphabet with n=72 instead of n=26, so that we can generate better quality passwords.



The end result is that the key space is 72^3 = 373,248. While not huge, it is probably sufficient given that the cipher texts and plain texts are not ever revealed. Thus it is imperative that the plain texts you use to generate your passwords are kept secret, and that you don't use this device to drive a one-time-pad style login system where the cipher texts can be readily intercepted, especially given that the wiring can be observed when the device is being used.



If you could conceal the wiring of the device, then the security is improved, because the huge number of wiring combinations, (72!)^3 = lots, offers a fair degree of resilience, especially if short cipher texts are used to limit the quantity of traffic that could be captured. Calculating how much traffic you would need to mount this kind of attack is beyond the scope of this instructible.





