page_title: Fialka
section_title: Encryption mechanism
hierarchical_section_title: Fialka / Encryption mechanism
caption_attribution_description: English: Closeup of rotor stack removed from a FIALKA cipher machine. Source: [1]. This image is copyright Professor Thomas B. Perera. The author agreed to license the photograph under the terms of the GFDL after an email exchange with User:Matt Crypto. More images of FIALKA, as well as other cipher machines, are available at Perera's online crypto museum: [2]. (Note that these images are not necessarily available under the GFDL license).
context_page_description: In cryptography, Fialka is the name of a Cold War-era Soviet cipher machine. A rotor machine, the device uses 10 rotors, each with 30 contacts along with mechanical pins to control stepping. It also makes use of a punched card mechanism. Fialka means "violet" in Russian. Information regarding the machine was quite scarce until c. 2005 because the device had been kept secret.
  Fialka contains a five-level paper tape reader on the right hand side at the front of the machine, and a paper tape punch and tape printing mechanism on top. The punched-card input for keying the machine is located on the left hand side. The Fialka requires 24 volt DC power and comes with a separate power supply that accepts power at 100 to 250 VAC, 50–400 Hz.
  The machine's rotors are labelled with Cyrillic, requiring 30 points on the rotors; this is in contrast to many comparable Western machines with 26-contact rotors, corresponding to the Latin alphabet. The keyboard, at least in the examples of East German origin, had both Cyrillic and Latin markings. There are at least two versions known to exist, the M-125-MN and the M-125-3MN. The M-125-MN had a typewheel that could handle Latin and Cyrilic letters.
context_section_description: The Fialka rotor assembly has 10 rotors mounted on an axle and a 30 by 30 commutator (Kc 30x30). The commutator consists of two sets of 30 contact strips set at right angles to each other. A punched card is placed between the two sets of contacts via a door on the left hand side of the unit. Each punched card has 30 holes, with exactly one hole per row and column pair, and thereby specifies a permutation of the 30 rotor contact lines. This feature is comparable to the plug board on the Enigma machine. A triangular plate was used to enter the null permutation for testing purposes.
  There are two types of rotors:
  disassemblable (zerlegbar) rotors, used with the M-125-3MN. The rotorset name is "PROTON." The disassemblable rotors consist of an insert with electrical contacts and scramble wiring, and an outer ring with mechanical pins whose presence or absence control rotor stepping. As part of the key setup, the stepping control pins can be rotated relative to the outer ring. The inner, electrical ring can also be rotated relative to the outer ring and can be inserted in one of two ways, with side 1 or side 2 up.
  unitary rotors, used with the M-125-MN. These have both electrical contacts and mechanical pins. The only key adjustment is the order of the rotors on the axle and the initial rotor settings. There is one combination for the disassemblable rotors that is compatible with the unitary rotor. One East German manual that has become public contains typed-in and hand written addenda that suggest the East Germans, at least, later stopped using the added features of the disassemblable rotors and only used them in unitary compatibility mode.
  Adjacent rotors step in opposite directions. A spare rotor assembly could be kept in the unit's top cover.
caption: Rotor stack removed from the machine, showing the 30 contact pins.
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