Otto Leiberich
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Otto Leiberich | |
|---|---|
 Otto Leiberich at his desk | |
| Born | 5 December 1927 |
| Died | 23 June 2015 (aged 87) |
| Citizenship | German |
| Alma mater | University of Cologne |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Mathematics Cryptology |
| Doctoral advisor | Guido Hoheisel |
Otto Leiberich (5 December 1927 in Crailsheim - 23 June 2015) was a German cryptologist and mathematician.[1][2] Leiberich is most notable for establishing the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik in 1991.[3]
Leiberich started his career during World War II, conscripted as a soldier and working as a cryptanalyst in Chi IV of the OKW/Chi.[4]
After studying mathematics and physics at the University of Cologne, Leiberich earned a Dr. phil. in 1953 at the same university[5] with a topic on algebra; his thesis (German: "Über Systeme von Jardenschen Folgen", 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[3] (German: Zentralstelle für das Chiffrierwesen (ZfCh)). Dr Erich Hüttenhain was his director, both in OKW/Chi and in the new bureau.
Career
During the Cold War Leiberich and his team worked intensively on the cryptanalysis of double transposition ciphers. One of their results led in 1974 to the discovery of the spying activities of Günter Guillaume who was senior aide to Willy Brandt, the statesman who served as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) from 1969 to 1974.[6] In 1972, Leiberich was the successor to Erich Hüttenhain as the Head of the Central Cryptography Office.[7]
In 1999, Leiberich wrote a report on the history of cryptography in Germany, which appeared in Spektrum der Wissenschaft,[8] the German edition of the Scientific American.
