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Here is a list of past presentations at ICCH. The most recent presentation is at the top. Click on each listing to reveal more information below, including the speaker, presentation description and to access recordings.
Note: Effort has been made to ensure that the information on each presentation is accurate and up-to-date. To suggest a correction please contact the ICCH webmaster Patrick Hayes at .
As true-crime books and TV shows are booming, there is also a growing interest in ciphers that have played a role in crimes. For instance, the Zodiac Killer, who sent four encrypted messages to newspapers in the late 1960s , once again hit the news recently when his second ciphertext was broken in late 2020. There are many other stories of this kind, involving solved and unsolved crimes as well as solved and unsolved codes. This presentation covers some of the most interesting ones. It will introduce, among others, the messages created by the convicted wife murderer Henry Debosnys in the late 1800s, the cryptic note left behind by the mysterious Somerton Man in Australia in 1948, and the encryption systems used by the German terrorist group RAF in the 1970s. Finally, the use of computer-based encryption by criminals will be addressed, along with some discussion about crypto backdoors for law enforcement agencies.
June 26, 2021
Here is a list of past presentations at ICCH. The most recent presentation is at the top. Click on each listing to reveal more information below, including the speaker, as well as the presentation date and description. Presentation recordings are available separately, in the ICCH Portal.
To view upcoming ICCH presentations, click here.
Note: Effort has been made to ensure that the information on each presentation is accurate and up-to-date. To suggest a correction please contact the ICCH webmaster Patrick Hayes at info@cryptologichistory.org.
As true-crime books and TV shows are booming, there is also a growing interest in ciphers that have played a role in crimes. For instance, the Zodiac Killer, who sent four encrypted messages to newspapers in the late 1960s , once again hit the news recently when his second ciphertext was broken in late 2020. There are many other stories of this kind, involving solved and unsolved crimes as well as solved and unsolved codes. This presentation covers some of the most interesting ones. It will introduce, among others, the messages created by the convicted wife murderer Henry Debosnys in the late 1800s, the cryptic note left behind by the mysterious Somerton Man in Australia in 1948, and the encryption systems used by the German terrorist group RAF in the 1970s. Finally, the use of computer-based encryption by criminals will be addressed, along with some discussion about crypto backdoors for law enforcement agencies.
June 26, 2021
