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

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