The East German Encryption Machine T-310 and the Algorithm It Used
Klaus Schmeh · Cryptologia · 2006
This article gives an overview on the T-310 encryption machine, which was widely used by East German state authorities in the 1980s. The T-310 was based on a U880 processor and it encrypted 5 bit words as used by the teleprinters of the time. The encryption algorithm the T-310 used is a stream cipher working on 5 bit units. A complete description of this previously unpublished algorithm is given in this article. Although most of the content of this publication is based on information found by Bernd Lippmann in a state-owned archive (Birthler authority archive), additional input came from the former military technician Jörg Drobick, who maintained several T-310 copies in the 1980s.