After months of work, Virtual Lorenz SZ 3D is now live on our website for you to use for free! Learn how to send messages on a real German cipher machine with more settings than even Enigma. Try it now: https://lorenz.virtualcolossus.co.uk
#VirtualLorenz3D #tnmoc #bletchleypark #hnfpb #gchq

Virtual Lorenz 3D allows you to use the Lorenz SZ40/42 cipher attachment using just your browser. You can even send messages to someone else on the internet! Released on Virtual Colossus TOMORROW! Can't wait for you to play!!! #VirtualLorenz3D #tnmoc #bletchleypark

Fortunately for the Allies, incredible cryptographers like John Tiltman & Bill Tutte managed to break the cipher just from the received transmissions. Tommy Flowers also built the first computer, Colossus, to crack the codes. 2 days left ... #VirtualLorenz3D #tnmoc #bletchleypark

Later models, introduced from 1942, the SZ42A & SZ42B had even more complex movement patterns to make the encryption even more difficult to break. A newer model, the SZ42C didn't make it to production by the end of the war. 3 days left ... #VirtualLorenz3D #tnmoc #bletchleypark

The 2 motor wheels (Mu) in the centre set when the first 5 (Psi) would move & when they would stand still. This was meant to give a more complex movement and a larger number of positions before the key began to repeat.
4 days left ... #VirtualLorenz3D #tnmoc #bletchleypark

The switches were changed periodically, but a new start position for each of the 12 rotors was set for every message. Each rotor had a different number of positions from the smallest with 23 to the largest with 61.
5 days left to go-live .. #VirtualLorenz3D #tnmoc #bletchleypark

Each of the twelve rotors could not be swapped or removed, but rather, had a series of switches around the edge which could change how the rotor enciphered the message. A total of 501 separate switches to set. 6 days left ... #VirtualLorenz3D #tnmoc #bletchleypark #hnf

In 1940, the Lorenz SZ40 was starting to be used in the field (SZ stands for Schlüssel-Zusatz - cipher attachment). The transmissions of this new device were first picked up by a police group listening for spy transmissions. 7 days left ... #VirtualLorenz3D #tnmoc #bletchleypark

The Ablesetafel (reading table) was used on the Lorenz SZ40 model earlier in the war. It helped the operator hide the initial setting which needed sending to the recipient. 8 days left ... #VirtualLorenz3D #tnmoc #bletchleypark

RT @VirtualColossus@twitter.com

Each end of the link required a teleprinter, a Lorenz cipher machine (setup with the same starting positions) and a transceiver. It could all fit in 2 trucks, a Senderwagen (transmitter) and Betriebswagen (cipher equipment). 9 days left ... #VirtualLorenz3D @tnmoc@twitter.com @bletchleypark@twitter.com

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/VirtualColossus/status/1598958926560493568

Each end of the link required a teleprinter, a Lorenz cipher machine (setup with the same starting positions) and a transceiver. It could all fit in 2 trucks, a Senderwagen (transmitter) and Betriebswagen (cipher equipment). 9 days left ... #VirtualLorenz3D #tnmoc #bletchleypark

The Lorenz SZ42 had a total of twelve rotors, two banks of five which each generated a letter that was mixed with the plaintext and two rotors which controlled the stepping of the first five.
Total possible settings = 1.0 x 10¹⁷⁰
10 days left ... #VirtualLorenz3D #tnmoc #bletchleypark

The Lorenz SZ40/42 was not as portable as Enigma but was built to allow fast and secure teleprinter transmissions between the German High Command and the front line generals. Very important, high priority information! 11 days left ... #VirtualLorenz3D #tnmoc #bletchlypark

Did you know there is a German cipher machine from #WW2 which has even more combinations than Enigma?
The Virtual Lorenz 3D release countdown has begun ... 12 days to go!
#VirtualLorenz3D #tnmoc #bletcheleypark

#VirtualLorenz3D is coming soon to a computer near you! It not only has the Lorenz SZ40, SZ42a and SZ42b models, we've also included the SZ42c version from the TICOM records which never made it to production. It may have caused trouble for the #bletchleypark codebreakers.