Secret Message
Write a message and it is scrambled by a working Enigma machine, the cipher used in the Second World War. Send the link to a friend. To read it, they need the 3-letter key, which you tell them some other way. That's exactly how real encryption works: the message and the key travel separately.
- Free
- No download or sign-up
- Runs in your browser
Your message is not stored anywhere. It travels inside the link after the # sign, which browsers never send to a server.
Letters are scrambled; spaces, numbers and punctuation stay as they are, so you can see the shape of the message.
How it works
The Enigma machine passed each letter through three rotors and a reflector. After every key press the right-hand rotor turned one step, so the same letter came out differently each time. This page uses the real wiring of rotors I, II and III and reflector B. Your 3-letter key is the starting position of the rotors.
Because of the reflector, Enigma works in both directions: scramble the scrambled text with the same key and the original message comes back. That's why your friend only needs the key.
Is it really secret?
It's secret from anyone who doesn't have the key, but it isn't strong security. There are only 17,576 possible keys, which a computer can try in a fraction of a second. Use it for fun, puzzles and treasure hunts, not for anything that truly matters. Modern apps use encryption with more possible keys than there are atoms in the universe.
Learn how Enigma was broken in the history of hacking, or turn text into ones and zeros with the binary translator.
Secret message FAQ
Can anyone read my message without the key?
Not just by looking at it, but someone who knows how Enigma works could try all 17,576 keys. It's a puzzle, not a vault.
Is my message saved on your server?
No. The scrambled message lives only in the link itself, after the # sign, and that part of a link is never sent to a web server.
Why does my friend see gibberish?
The key is wrong. Even one wrong letter scrambles everything, which is the whole point of a key.
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