Otto Leiberich

Otto Leiberich (5 December 1927 in Crailsheim - 23 June 2015) was a German cryptologist and mathematician. Leiberich is most notable for establishing the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik in 1991.

Life Leiberich started his career during World War II, conscripted as a soldier and working as a cryptanalyst in Chi IV of the OKW/Chi.

After studying mathematics and physics at the University of Cologne, Leiberich earned a Dr. phil. in 1953 at the same university with a topic on algebra; his thesis (, On systems of Jarden sequences) was supervised by Guido Hoheisel. Leiberich joined the newly established post war German cipher bureau that from 1956 on was called the Central Cryptography Office In 1972, Leiberich was the successor to Erich Hüttenhain as the Head of the Central Cryptography Office.

In 1999, Leiberich wrote a report on the history of cryptography in Germany, which appeared in Spektrum der Wissenschaft, the German edition of the Scientific American.

Cipher challenge In order to encourage research on the double transposition cipher, Leiberich suggested during his retirement in 1999, that a double transposition challenge be published. Leiberich's recommendation for the challenge included:

Both transposition keys should be long enough: 20 to 25 elements. The lengths of the ciphertext should not be a multiple of the length of either key. A ciphertext of approximately 500 characters, i.e. the product of the lengths of the two keys, should be used.

These properties were based on Leiberich's own experience, designed with parameters to ensure its own security

Publications