Homepage Crypto Index Enigma Hagelin Fialka Siemens Philips Nema Racal Motorola STK Transvertex Gretag HELL Telsy TST Mils AT&T Tadiran USA USSR UK Voice Hand Mixers Phones Spy sets Burst encoders Intercept Covert Radio PC Telex Agencies Manufacturers Donate Kits Shop News Events Wanted Contact About Links USA Cipher Machines Over the years, the USA produced many different cipher machines. In some cases, these machines were developed by the NSA (National Security Agency), but sometimes they were bought 'of the shelf' from existing manufacturers. As it is sometimes unclear who the developer or the manufacturer of a machine is, we've listed some of them on this page.   Breaking news about KL-7  Using the latest information sent-in by our readers, Dirk Rijmenants has been able to release a fully functional and accurate simulator for the American KL-7 cipher machine. It runs on Windows and has a beautiful user interface. Furthermore, a fully operational KL-7 simulator has now been released by researchers from MIT as well. As this one was written in JAVA, it runs on virtually any platform. Available for download.   Devices described in this section: Jefferson CC Disk Giddings M-209 BC-38 SIGABA KL-7 KL-51 KG-81 KG-84 KY-68 KY-57 KY-99 KYK-13 CYZ-10 MX-18290 STU-I STU-II STU-III STE CVAS III TSD-3600 1100 4100 Clipper KIV-7 Fortezza KSD-64 NSA U-229 KD-100 Hotline M-209 Based on the C-38, Boris Hagelin developed the M-209 for the American Army, shortly before the outbreak of WWII. The small compact mechanical machine remained in service until the late 1960s. As the machine could be broken by the Germans in less than 4 hours, it was only used for tactical messages. The M-209 was built under licence by several companies, such as Smith Corona.  More information    BC-38 The BC-38 was a motor-driven, keyboard-operated, mechanical cipher machine built by Hagelin in Sweden. Like the M-209 it was based on the C-38. As it was compatible with the M-209, it was often used in large communication centres. The BC-38 was also used by other countries during and after WWII, just like the later BC-543.  More information    ECM Mark II (SIGABA) The ECM Mark II was a cipher machine based on the electromechanical rotor principle. It was developed by the USA shortly before WWII and was used during the war by the Allied forces. It has been in service until the 1950s and was even used by NATO shortly after WWII.  More information    KL-7 (ADONIS, POLLUX) The TSEC/KL-7 was an off-line cipher machine built in the 1950s by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and served during an important part of the Cold War. It was used by the USA and manu of its NATO partners. Like the German Enigma machine, it uses rotors and alphabet substitution as its main principle.  More information    KL-51 (RACE) The KL-51 replaced the aging KL-7 in the US Army in the early 1980s. It was a fully electronic machine that was also used by NATO and by the Canadian Forces, where it was known as RACE. KL-51 is a compact unit that was used for offline encryption and decryption of teleprinter messages. It can be connected to an external teleprinter and an external paper tape puncher.  More information    Key fill devices A key transfer device is an electronic device that is used (most commonly by the military) for the distribution of cryptographic material, such as crypto keys and frequency hopping tables. Key fillers often use a standard data protocols, but proprietary protocols are used as well. Many key fill units have the same 6-pin U-229 connector allowing connection to standard radio sets, such as HAVE QUICK and SINCGARS.  More information      KY-68 The KY-68 was a digital secure voice terminal (crypto phone) used by the US Army and Navy. It was introduced in the early 1990s and was used until 2010. They are currently being replaced by the STE.  More information      KY-57 (VINSON) The KY-57 was a wide-band voice encryption device developed by the USA during the late 1970s to replace the ageing NESTOR voice crypto systems. For many years it was the US Army's main crypto 'workhorse'.  More information      KY-99 (MINTERM) The TSEC/KY-99A was an advanced narrow-band digital voice and data terminal, developed by the USA during the 1980s to replace the KY-57 with which it is backwards compatible. It features both CVSD modulation and enhanced LPC-10 voice coding. The KY-99 can be used over narrow-band radio channels.  More information      STU-I STU-I was the first generation secure digital telephone, developed by the NSA in the late 1960s and the early 1970s. It was a bulky unit consisting of a large cabinet containing the actual electronic circuits and a desktop terminal that was similar to a normal telephone set. The STU-I is also known as the KY-70. It replaced the KY-3 and was succeeded in the 1980s by the STU-II (KY-71).  More information      STU-II The STU-II was the second generation secure telephone developed by the NSA in the 1980s. It replaced the older STU-I and the KY-3. The STU-II is also known as KY-71 or TSEC/KY-71. The STU-II consisted of a large rackmount unit and a telephone-style control unit (shown here).  More information      STU-III The STU-III is the third and last of a series of secure telephone units (STU), developed in the US by the National Security Agency (NSA), for the highest level of security (Type 1 and 2). The STU-III was introduced in 1987 as the successor to the bulky STU-II. It was built by several manuafacturers, such as Motorola, RCA (later: L3) and AT&T.  More information      STE Secure Terminal Equipment (STE) was developed by the NSA in the early 1990s as the successor to the extremely successful STU-III. It was built under contract by L3 Communications and can be connected to a variety of networks, including PSTN, ISDN and (optionally) VoIP. STE units were still in use in 2012.  More information      CVAS III The CVAS III was an NSA Type 3 cryptographic product, developed and buit by A-O Electronics in the USA. It was used for unclassified but sensitive information. It used cryptographic algorithms such as DES and EDAS.  More information      KG-84 The KG-84 is an electronic encryption device developed by the National Security Agency (NSA) in the USA. It was used for secure transmission of digital data over a variety of networks, such as landlines, satellites, microwave links and Telex. Many modern encryption devices are still backwards compatible with the KG-84, for example the SafeNet KIV-7 (see below).  More information      KIV-7 KIV-7 is a compact miniaturized embeddable version of the military KG-84 encryption device. It was developed by AlliedSignal Corporation and manufactured in the mid-1990s by Mykotronx (now: SafeNet) in the USA, as a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) product, to meet the growing demand for secure data communication links.  More information      TSD-3600 The TSD-3600-E was an advanced telephone security device, developed by AT&T (USA) in 1992. It was based on the controversial Clipper Chip, forcing users to escrow their cryptographic keys. The TSD-3600 was a small white box that was connected between the handset and the phone.  More information      AT&T STU-III AT&T (later: Lucent) was appointed in 1987 as one of the manufacturers of the STU-III secure telephones. The 1100 shown here was one of the last STU-III phones developed by AT&T.  More information      Motorola SECTEL Motorola was one of three manufacturers appointed by the US Government to develop and make STU-III secure telephones, based on the 1987 design by the NSA. Motorola subsequently released the SECTEL range of secure phones, of which the SECTEL 1500 delivers the highest level of security.  More information      Confederate Cipher Disk During the American Civil War (1861-1865), the Confederate States of America used a variant of the Vigenère Cipher (sometimes called the Alberti Disc) to protect the contents of their messages. Although the cipher has often been claimed to be unbreakable, it can be broken by various hand and mathematical methods.  More information      Spanish-American War The same cipher disc was used during the Spanish-American War of 1898, when a paper-based version of it was included in the Giddings Field Message-Book, a smal A6-size booklet with a green leather cover and a short pencil. Message, written down on a message pad, were encrypted with the cipher disc and then filed in a pocket of the book.  More information      Jefferson Disk The Jefferson Disk is a manual cipher system that consists of a set of wheels on an axle. Each wheel has the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet on its circumfere in a pre-determinded scrambled arrangement. Each wheel has a unique number and the order is determinded by a code book. The M-94 was derrived from this system.  More information      KSD-64 The KSD-64 is a so-called Key Storage Device developed by the NSA for use with electronic cryptographic equipment, such as the STU-III secure telephones. It can be used for a variety of applications, ranging from Key Fillers to Crypto Ignition Keys (CIKs).  More information      Clipper Chip The Clipper Chip was a chipset developed and promoted by the US Government. It was intended for the implementation in secure voice equipment, such as crypto phones, and required users to give their cryptographic keys in escrow to the government. This would allow law enforcement agencies to decrypt any traffic for surveillance and intelligence purposes.  More information      U-229 connector Most American and NATO equipment uses a standardized connector for audio, digital data and (crypto) FILL purposes. This connector is commonly called U-229 and is used for analog and digital data. It supports various data protocols, such as DS-102 and DS-101. We have collected all currently known pinouts of this connector on a single page.  More information      Further information NSA encryption products Index of cipher machines Other cipher machines Any links shown in red are currently unavailable. If you like this website, why not make a donation? © Copyright 2009-2013, Paul Reuvers & Marc Simons. Last changed: Thursday, 27 March 2014 - 12:11 CET