Klaus Schmeh

Klaus Schmeh ist Experte für historische Verschlüsselungstechnik. Seine Bücher "Nicht zu knacken" (über die zehn größten ungelösten Verschlüsselungsrätsel) und "Codeknacker gegen Codemacher" (über die Geschichte der Verschlüsselungstechnik) sind Standardwerke. In "Klausis Krypto Kolumne" schreibt er über sein Lieblingsthema.

British WW2 soldier and prisoner of war Donald Hill kept a steganographic diary. A 13-minute TV documentary available on YouTube tells this story.

In 1908, an ecrypted postcard signed with “Somebody” was sent to a sobriety organisation in Northern Ireland. Can a reader decipher it?

Blog reader Christoph Tenzer has sent me a nice crypto challenge, based on an enhanced Caesar cipher. Can a reader solve it?

A sword showcased in a Havana, Cuba museum bears an encrypted inscription. Can a reader decipher it?

The homophonic Polybius is a simple but hard to break manual cipher. Can a reader break a message I have encrypted in this scheme?

A cipher disk introduced on Reddit looks like a mass-produced item from the 20th century. Does a reader have any information about this crypto tool?

Here’s an telegram from 1952 that might have been encrypted in a code. Can a reader find out which codebook has been used and decipher the message?

The cover of a well-known cryptography book shows a 16-letter cryptogram. Its solution is unknown.

An encrypted diary posted on Reddit last year is still unsolved.

About a century ago, a young man from Austria wrote an encrypted postcard with a sad motive to his lover. Can a reader decipher this cryptogram?