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The unbreakable code
The One-Time Pad, or OTP is an encryption technique in which each character
of the plaintext is combined with a character from a random key stream.
Originally described in 1882 by banker Frank Miller (USA), it was re-invented in 1917
by Gilbert Vernam and Joseph Mauborgne.
When applied correctly, the OTP provides a truely unbreakable cipher.
It is named after the sheets of paper (pads) on which the key stream was
usually printed. It also exists as One Time Tape (OTT).
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The image on the right shows a typical OTP booklet as it was used by agents
of the former Soviet Union (USSR) during the 1960s.
It consists of a stack of small very thin pages, each with a series of
random 5-digit numbers on them.
Each page was destroyed immediately after use.
OTPs like this, were commonly used for sending coded messages via
a Russian spy radio set
such as the R-353,
often in relation to the mysterious Numbers Stations
on the short wave radio bands.
The OTP booklet shown here is from the internal collection
of the Dutch Intelligence Agency AIVD.
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In this section, we shows a selection of OTP systems from a variety
of sources and countries. Although the exact operating procedure varies between
OTP systems, we will try to give examples whenever possible. Real OTP booklets
are extremely rare as they were normally destroyed after use. The ones that did
survive are generally in the hands of the intelligence and law enforcement
agencies that used or confiscated them.
Click any of the thumbnails below for further details.
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OTP systems on this website
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The theory behind the OTP is that the encryption key has at least the same
length as the actual message (i.e. the plaintext) and consists
of truely random numbers.
Each letter of the plaintext is 'added' to one element from the OTP
using modulo-addition.
This results in a ciphertext that has no relation with the plaintext when the
key is unknown. At the receiving end, the same OTP is used to retrieve the
original plaintext. For this to work, the following rules are mandatory:
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- The OTP should consist of truely random characters (noise).
- The OTP (i.e. the key) should have the same length as the plaintext (or longer).
- Only two copies of the OTP should exist.
- The OTP should be used only once.
- Both copies of the OTP are destroyed immediately after use.
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Only if the above rules are strictly obeyed, the OTP is absolutely safe.
Combining numbers with the plaintext manually, is a time-consuming task.
It is therefore sometimes thought that OTPs are no longer practical.
With modern computer technology however, the entire task of coding
and decoding, can easily be automated, just like it
was done in the past on teleprinter systems, but you should
bear in mind that in practice
there is no such thing as a secure personal computer.
Although it may sound strange, manual OTP ciphers are still being used
today (2015) for sending secret messages to agents (spies) via the
Numbers Stations,
or One-Way Voice Links (OWVL),
that you may have heard on the short-wave radio bands.
For a detailed description of the One-Time Pad Cipher and its history,
complete with numerous examples, we would like to recommend the
excellent paper
Secure Communications with the One Time Pad Cipher,
by Dirk Rijmenants [4].
➤ Read now (off-site)
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The major problem with OTPs, is their distribution. A unique set
of OTP booklets needs to be issued and distributed to each individual spy
or agent abroad. As the OTP was destroyed immediately after use, sufficient
and timely supply of new OTPs had to be guaranteed.
OTPs were often smuggled into the country by using concealments
like the one shown in the image on the right. In this case a common
travel kit is cleverly converted into a concealment device by the East-German
secret service.
➤ More information
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Another popular method for distributing and hiding OTP booklets,
was by printing them at very small size and hiding them
inside common objects
like ballpoints, photoframes and, as shown in the image on
the right, inside a walnut.
The walnut concealment was very popular with KGB agents in Western Europe
for many years, until it was discovered by the West-Germans.
➤ Walnut concealment
➤ Other concealments
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OTP systems come in many forms and flavours. The Russian OTP shown above,
contains only numbers. It requires the letters of a message to be converted
into numbers, before applying the OTP. It is also possible however, to use an
OTP based on letters.
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An example of such a letter-based OTP is shown in the image on the right.
It's a stack of approx. 30 pages that are stapled together.
The cover at the left, contains a folded alphabet table that is used in the
translation process.
Some OTPs are so small that they can easily be hidden inside a small object.
More examples and detailed photographs below. Some OTPs are so small that
they can be fitted inside a slide frame.
All OTP photos in this section are courtesy Detlev Vreisleben (Germany) [2]
and © Crypto Museum.
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When used properly, OTPs are inherently safe. But when they are used
incorrectly, e.g. by reusing them, they be a cryptologic nightmare.
A good example of improper use is described by Matt Blaze in an article
about the book Compromised by former FBI counterintelligence agent
Peter Strzok [5]. He describes how secret OTP-encrypted messages were sent
to Russian illegals 1 in the US, via a
Numbers Station in Cuba
which had a good coverage throughout the US.
The station would broadcast message in morse code
and voice 24 hours a day, interleaving real messages with dummy traffic, so
that it was not revealed to an interceptor how often and how many real messages
were sent. However, the FBI discovered (as did others) that dummy traffic could
easily be discriminated from real traffic, as it did not contain the number 9.
This was probably caused by a faillure of the random number generator used
for the dummy traffic, or a bug in the software that handled it.
With this knowledge, the FBI was able to correlate the real messages to
the times that messages were decoded by a Russian illegal couple they had under
surveillance. It eventually led to the arrest of an several Russian illegals in
the US and Canada.
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In the espionage trade, an illegal is a foreign person who lives in a
country under a false or assumed identity, also known as a legend,
for the purpose of spying.
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OTP booklets, such as the one shown above,
have been captured during the Cold War by Western intelligence
agencies on a number of occassions. One documented example is the capture
of a Dutch man, who
acted as an East-German agent in The Netherlands, in 1969.
When he was finally exposed, the Dutch intelligence agency
BVD
(now: AIVD)
found a partly used OTP booklet in his home, along with a fully operational
R-353 spy radio set,
a burst encoder and cassettes
[1].
➤ More about the R-353 radio
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Friday 28 August 2015. Last changed: Saturday, 01 April 2023 - 07:39 CET.
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![Courtesy AIVD Netherlands [1]](ddr/img/301099/045/full.jpg)
![Courtesy AIVD Netherlands [1]](../../covert/deaddrop/travel/img/302200/003/small.jpg)
![Letter-based OTP, courtesy Detlev Vreisleben [2]](../img/301277/005/full.jpg)
