How was the 5 digit random number in the VIC cipher generated?

Question

Knowing that VIC was a "spy cipher" it is unlikely that the agents used a cryptographic device to genreate the 5 digit number but how did they do it?

But actually it sounds like a possible way of generating that number, at least to me.Or am I completely wrong? — user65597, Feb 20 '19 at 17:37
No, dice are completely acceptable, but I wonder if they had 10 sided dice. Using dice or shuffling cards is of course completely possible. Even if you don't use 10 sides there are easy ways to accomplish the same thing with dice with a different number of sides. — Maarten Bodewes, Feb 20 '19 at 17:41
I saw a scheme to create otps using two six sided dices on Dirk Rijmenants blog — user65597, Feb 20 '19 at 17:42
This is nice solution At last, just for fun: look at the die, without throwing it. Then look at your clock, the last digit of the seconds. Add one. 0 tosses. see at Math How to generate a random number between 1 and 10 with a six-sided die? — kelalaka, Feb 20 '19 at 22:05
I wanted basically only an answer to my question. The solution you posted May Not be the procedure used in VIC but it still is interesting — user65597, Feb 20 '19 at 22:24
Throw the dice. If odd 0, if even 1. Now we got a coin toss. Now, throw the toss for the bits, we need 4 toss. if the number exceed 10 then reject it and re-toss 4. So, instead of dice, a coin is better for this algorithm. — kelalaka, Feb 20 '19 at 22:27
Actually, randomness is a function of sample size. With just five digits, simply pick them from your head. That's probably what they did in practice. Or use 55512. — Paul Uszak, Feb 21 '19 at 01:04
Human have a bias when selection random from their head. Not a good idea. — kelalaka, Feb 21 '19 at 10:36

Patriot · Answer 1 · 2021-02-04T15:50:21.783

In the VIC cipher, that significant five-digit number was created by the user when doing the encryption. It was surely made on the spur of the moment without equipment. As you remarked, these people were spies, and they would not have wanted to get caught with some strange device.

The CIA's online library does not mention the five-digit number as a value that the user had to memorize. The agent already had four mnemonic keys stored in his or her mind:

 1. a date (in Russian this would be day/month/year; six digits)
 2. a snippet of a popular Russian song        (20 characters long)
 3. the user's personal identification number
 4. a Russian word (e.g., the word for "snowfall")

I do not know for sure, but I think it is most likely that agents came up with their own "random" number out of their own heads. One, admittedly thin, piece of evidence might be that the Russians were generating "one-time pads" at that time out of their own heads by pecking at a typewriter--and keys generated in such manner were considered "random" enough to encrypt important traffic.

score -1 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 21 '19 at 22:23

-1

Write the numbers 0 to 9 on slips of paper and draw them from a hat.

answered Feb 21 '19 at 22:23

Kymyst

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The system has auto-flagged this answer as low-quality due to its length. Could you please provide a citation or reference to support the claim that this is what spies using the VIC cipher actually did? (As the question is not what could they do, but what did they do) – Ella Rose Feb 22 '19 at 01:43

How was the 5 digit random number in the VIC cipher generated?

2 Answers2