Noreen, or BID 590, was an off-line

one-time tape The one-time pad (OTP) is an encryption technique that cannot be cracked in cryptography. It requires the use of a single-use pre-shared key that is larger than or equal to the size of the message being sent. In this technique, a plaintext is ...

cipher machine of British origin.

Usage

As well as being used by the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, Noreen was used by

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It was widely used in diplomatic stations. According to the display note on a surviving unit publicly displayed at

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...

in the United Kingdom, the system was predominantly used "by the foreign office in British embassies overseas where the electricity supply was unreliable." Usage lasted from the mid-1960s through 1990.

Compatibility

It was completely compatible with

Rockex Rockex, or Telekrypton, was an offline one-time tape Vernam cipher machine known to have been used by Britain and Canada from 1943. It was developed by Canadian electrical engineer Benjamin deForest Bayly, working during the war for British Se ...

Power supply

The units were powered by two batteries of six and twelve volts respectively, though some were known to have been powered by mains.

Other uses of the name "Noreen"

* Noreen was the name of a wooden dragger that was acquired by the U.S. Navy during World War II and converted into the minesweeper USS ''Heath Hen'' (AMc-6). * Noreen is a common name in the Americas, Ireland, Scotland, and the Middle East. Also spelt Naureen, Noirin and Nowrin (). In

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, the word means "luminous"'. In Ireland and Scotland, 'Noreen' is the anglicized version of 'Nóirín', which is the diminutive of '

Nora Nora, NORA, or Norah may refer to: * Nora (name), a feminine given name People with the surname * Arlind Nora (born 1980), Albanian footballer * Pierre Nora (1931–2025), French historian * Simon Nora (1921–2006), French politician Place ...

External links

Jerry Proc's page on Noreen

Noreen on Crypto Museum website

Noreen Noreen, or BID 590, was an off-line one-time tape cipher machine of British origin. Usage As well as being used by the United Kingdom, Noreen was used by Canada. It was widely used in diplomatic stations. According to the display note on a ...

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