30.11.2012 Views

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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

52<br />

chapter 4<br />

double transposition system where <strong>the</strong> transpositions are changed regularly<br />

would be moderately secure. For heavy use or high security messages<br />

such systems are not acceptable.<br />

Double encipherment in general<br />

We have seen that <strong>the</strong> use of double transposition will normally increase<br />

<strong>the</strong> security of a transposition system but at <strong>the</strong> risk of <strong>the</strong> transpositions<br />

being applied in <strong>the</strong> wrong order. This raises <strong>the</strong> general question as to<br />

whe<strong>the</strong>r enciphering a message twice or more will increase its security.<br />

There is no simple answer to this question since it depends upon <strong>the</strong> type<br />

of encipherments employed. In <strong>the</strong> case of double simple substitution for<br />

example <strong>the</strong>re is no advantage because <strong>the</strong> result of <strong>the</strong> double substitution<br />

is just ano<strong>the</strong>r simple substitution <strong>and</strong> so offers no greater challenge<br />

to <strong>the</strong> cryptanalyst. Fur<strong>the</strong>rmore if <strong>the</strong> two substitutions are applied in<br />

<strong>the</strong> wrong order a different cipher text is produced; this won’t defeat <strong>the</strong><br />

cryptanalyst, who won’t even be aware of <strong>the</strong> error, but <strong>the</strong> genuine recipient<br />

won’t be able to decipher <strong>the</strong> message. A combination of simple substitution<br />

<strong>and</strong> transposition on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r h<strong>and</strong> does offer increased<br />

security. A cryptographer who is thinking of using a multiple encipherment<br />

system would be sure to ask himself:<br />

(1) does it increase <strong>the</strong> security?<br />

(2) if <strong>the</strong> encipherments are being carried out manually would <strong>the</strong> users<br />

find <strong>the</strong> system to be excessively tedious?<br />

(3) if <strong>the</strong> encipherments are used in <strong>the</strong> wrong order would it help <strong>the</strong><br />

cryptanalyst?<br />

An interesting example of a triple encipherment cipher is one of those<br />

used by <strong>the</strong> double agent garbo. This is described in Chapter 7.<br />

Problem 4.1<br />

The 30-long message below, enciphered by simple transposition, has<br />

been sent by a young man to his girl-friend. The key length is believed to<br />

be 6; all spacing <strong>and</strong> punctuation have been ignored. Find <strong>the</strong> key <strong>and</strong><br />

decrypt <strong>the</strong> message.<br />

LPEUD SCEOE LAEMA AMHSS HOTAR IRTMY<br />

Problem 4.2<br />

The number of possible (regular <strong>and</strong> irregular) transposition boxes of<br />

given width grows very rapidly as <strong>the</strong> capacity (number of letters) of <strong>the</strong>

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!