Code and ciphers: Julius Caesar, the Enigma and the internet
Code and ciphers: Julius Caesar, the Enigma and the internet
Code and ciphers: Julius Caesar, the Enigma and the internet
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22<br />
chapter 2<br />
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23<br />
CWSACPZ XGL ZHSWBNZ XZT TGRNV MJCPO MJSM CX MJZLZ<br />
IMA.INE .OR E.AM..E .E. WO... THIN. THAT I. THERE<br />
24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33<br />
SLZ MTZPMQ MJLZZ BZGBNZ CP S LGGW MJZP MJZLZ CK<br />
ARE TWENTY THREE .EO..E IN A ROOM THEN THERE IS<br />
34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43<br />
SP ZDZPK IJSPIZ MJSM MJZLZ SLZ MTG GX MJZW TCMJ<br />
AN E.ENS ..AN.E THAT THERE ARE TWO O. THEM .ITH<br />
44 45 46 47 48 49 50<br />
MJZ KSWZ ECLMJVSQ ERM MJCK CK KG<br />
THE SAME .IRTH.A. ..T THIS IS SO<br />
The remaining letters are now easily identified <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> entire decryption<br />
substitution alphabet, denoting ‘space’ by ^ , is<br />
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<br />
GPIVBQOXCHSRTLKNYUAW.DMF^E<br />
The encryption alphabet, which <strong>the</strong> sender would have used to produce <strong>the</strong><br />
cipher text from <strong>the</strong> plain, is of course <strong>the</strong> inverse of this viz:<br />
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ<br />
SEIVZXAJC.ONWPGBFLKMRDTHQY<br />
In general <strong>the</strong> encryption <strong>and</strong> decryption alphabets will be different in<br />
a simple substitution or <strong>Julius</strong> <strong>Caesar</strong> system; in <strong>the</strong> latter case <strong>the</strong>y are<br />
<strong>the</strong> same only when <strong>the</strong> shift is 13; in <strong>the</strong> former case <strong>the</strong>y can be made <strong>the</strong><br />
same by arranging most, if not all, of <strong>the</strong> letters in pairs so that <strong>the</strong> letters<br />
of a pair encipher to each o<strong>the</strong>r, <strong>and</strong> leaving <strong>the</strong> remaining letters<br />
unchanged. Some cipher machines including both <strong>the</strong> <strong>Enigma</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
Hagelin machines automatically produce such reciprocal alphabets, making<br />
<strong>the</strong> processes of encryption <strong>and</strong> decryption <strong>the</strong> same, which is a convenience<br />
for <strong>the</strong> user but also weakens <strong>the</strong> security. In a simple substitution<br />
system based on a 26-letter alphabet <strong>the</strong> number of possible substitution<br />
alphabets is reduced from more than 10 26 to less than 10 13 . (For details of<br />
this calculation see M2.) Whilst this is still a large number it is significantly<br />
less formidable from a cryptanalytic point of view. Such reciprocal<br />
simple substitution <strong>ciphers</strong> have, never<strong>the</strong>less, been used occasionally,