Question 01.

1. Describe the 4 rules which must be followed in order to encrypt a text using a
Playfair Cipher.
The four rules that must be followed in order to encrypt a text using a Playfair Cipher
are:
 If the first two letters being encrypted are the same, add a "X" after the first one.
After that, the new pair can be encrypted.
 When two letters are on the same row in the table, swap them out right next to each
other. If one of the letters is at the end of the row, use the letter that is farthest to the
left in the following row.
 When two letters are in the same column, swap out the letters that are right below
one another. If one of the letters is at the end of the column, wrap around to the top
and use the uppermost letter.
 When the letters are not in a row or column, use the original pair to form a rectangle
and swap the letters with those in the corners.

Question 02.

2. Encrypt the plaintext “SECURITY” using the key “COMPUTING”, by using the
Playfair Cipher.
The first step is to create a 5x5 matrix using the key as follow:

C O M P U
T I N G A
B D E F H
K L Q R S
V W X Y Z

After using the pre-defined algorithm of Playfair Cipher we get the following output:
SE = QH
CU= OD
RI = LG
TY = GV
Hence, the encrypted word after Playfair Cipher is QHODLGGV.
 Question 03.

3. Why are Transposition Cipher considered to be weak.

A transposition cipher is a type of encryption that produces a ciphertext that is a

permutation of the plaintext by changing the locations of the plaintext in a predictable
manner. In other words, the order of the units is changed. In other words, there is an
equal amount of plaintext and ciphertext. Instead of hiding the message with the
actual letters, these do so by switching the positions of the letters. Transposition
Ciphers are therefore considered to be insecure or weak.

Question 04.

4. Encipher (encrypt) the message “Security in Computing” using the Rail Fence
Cipher.
This cipher requires the creation of n rows, the placement of the message characters
in a zigzag pattern akin to rails, and the row-wise ordering of the characters to
produce the encrypted message.
Let n = 3

S R - C U G
E U I Y I - O P T N
C T N M I

The encrypted message is “SR CUGEUIYI OPTNCTNMI”

Question 05.

5. Elaborate how Row Transposition Cipher can be used to maintain the

confidentiality of an unencrypted message.
A straightforward form of message encoding is the Caesar cipher. Use of Caesar
ciphers a technique for replacement where letters are moved by a set amount to
produce an alphabet for encoding, in spaces.

A Caesar cipher with a shift of 1 would encode an A as a B, an M as an N, a Z as an

A, and so on. For example-

Message text= “THIS IS THE MAN”

With the key = 35124

 3 5 1 2 4
T H I S
I S T H
E M A N

The encrypted text becomes =I MSTATIE HNHS. As a result, the message text is
entirely different, and there is no way to recover the original message using
conventional techniques. The unencrypted message is thus kept secure by row
transposition ciphers in this manner.

Question 06.

6. What factor of the Product Cipher results in the resulting cipher text to
become more secure?
Product ciphers are data encryption methods that re-encrypt the ciphertext that is
generated after a plaintext message has been encrypted. Combining two or more
simple substitution ciphers or transposition ciphers can result in more secure
encryption. To make the final encryption more secure than the sum of its parts and
thereby create a cipher that is resistant to cryptanalysis, a product cipher integrates
more than two transformations. In the product cipher, the operations of substitution,
permutation, and modular arithmetic are all combined.