KL-51

Keyboard encryption system

The KL-51 is an off-line keyboard encryption system that read and punched paper tape for use with teleprinters. In NATO it was called RACE (Rapid Automatic Cryptographic Equipment).

It was developed in the 1970s by a Norwegian company, Standard Telefon og Kabelfabrik (STK). It used digital electronics for encryption instead of rotors, and it may have been the first machine to use software based crypto algorithms. KL-51 is a very robust machine made to military specifications.

U.S. National Security Agency bought it in the 1980s to replace the earlier KL-7. As of 2006, the U.S. Navy was developing plans to replace KL-51 units still in use with a unit based on a more modern Universal Crypto Device.^[1]

References

^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-22. Retrieved 2008-05-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

Sources

NSA museum caption shown in photo.
Crypto Machines - KL-51/RACE
http://www.knobstick.ca/pdf_files/race1.pdf

v t e Cipher machines
Rotor machines	CCM Enigma M-125 Fialka Hebern HX-63 KL-7 Lacida M-325 Mercury NEMA OMI RED SG-39 SG-41 SIGABA SIGCUM Singlet Typex
Mechanical	Bazeries cylinder C-36 C-52 CD-57 Cipher disk HC-9 Kryha Jefferson disk M-94 M-209 Reihenschieber Scytale
Teleprinter	5-UCO BID 770 DUDEK KW-26 KW-37 Lorenz SZ 40/42 Siemens and Halske T52 SIGTOT
Secure voice	BID 150 FASCINATOR KY-3 KY-58 KY-68 NESTOR OMNI SCIP Sectéra Secure Module SIGSALY STE STU-II STU-III VINSON
Other	JADE KG-84 KL-43 KL-51 Noreen Red Purple Pinwheel Rockex
In Computer Hardware	AES instruction set Intel SHA extensions IBM 4758 IBM 4764

v t e Cryptography
General	History of cryptography Outline of cryptography Cryptographic protocol Authentication protocol Cryptographic primitive Cryptanalysis Cryptocurrency Cryptosystem Cryptographic nonce Cryptovirology Hash function Cryptographic hash function Key derivation function Digital signature Kleptography Key (cryptography) Key exchange Key generator Key schedule Key stretching Keygen Cryptojacking malware Ransomware Random number generation Cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator (CSPRNG) Pseudorandom noise (PRN) Secure channel Insecure channel Subliminal channel Encryption Decryption End-to-end encryption Harvest now, decrypt later Information-theoretic security Plaintext Codetext Ciphertext Shared secret Trapdoor function Trusted timestamping Key-based routing Onion routing Garlic routing Kademlia Mix network
Mathematics	Cryptographic hash function Block cipher Stream cipher Symmetric-key algorithm Authenticated encryption Public-key cryptography Quantum key distribution Quantum cryptography Post-quantum cryptography Message authentication code Random numbers Steganography
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