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Vigenere Cipher - dCode

Tag(s) : Poly-Alphabetic Cipher

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Vigenere Cipher

1. Cryptography

2. Poly-Alphabetic Cipher

3. Vigenere Cipher

Vigenere Decoder↺
Vigenere ciphertext

Parameters

Plaintext language EnglishFrench (Français)Spanish (Español)German

(Deutsch)Portuguese (Português)Italian (Italiano)Dutch
(Nederlands)Norwegian (Norsk)Swedish (Svenska)Catalan (Catalá)Czech
(Čeština)Danish (Dansk)Estonian (Eesti)Finnish (Suomi)Croatian
(Hrvatski)Hungarian (Magyar)Lithuanian (Lietuvių)Latvian (Latviešu)Polish
(Polski)Romanian (Română)Slovak (Slovenčina)Slovenian
(Slovenščina)Albanian (Shqip)Serbian (Српски / Srpski)Swedish
(Svenska)Turkish (Türkçe)Latin
Alphabet x
Automatic Decryption

Decryption method

Knowing the Key/Password: x

Knowing the key-length/size, number of letters:
Knowing only a partial key: x
Knowing a plaintext word: x
Vigenere Cryptanalysis (Kasiski's Test)
Decrypt

See also: Beaufort Cipher — Caesar Cipher

Vigenere Encoder↺

Vigenere plain text

Cipher Key x
Alphabet x
Preserve Punctuation
Encrypt

See also: Beaufort Cipher — Autoclave Cipher — Caesar Cipher

Answers to Questions (FAQ)

What is the Vigenere cipher? (Definition)

The Vigenère cipher is a polyalphabetic encryption method using a

keyword to encode a message.

Invented by the French cryptologist Blaise de Vigenère in the 16th

century, it is based on the use of a grid/table called
a Vigenère square which allows for shifts of the letters according to the
keyword.

How to encrypt using Vigenere cipher?

Vigenere cipher uses a key (and an alphabet).

Example: Encode plaintext DCODE with key CLE and Latin

alphabet ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ.

Vigenère can be described by 2 encryption methods (which arrive at the

same result)

METHOD 1: Vigenere cipher by adding letters

Vigenère cipher consists of adding the key to the plaintext.

— Map, for each letter, the value of its rank in the alphabet, starting
from 0: A=0,B=1,…,Z=25. The following letter addition calculations are
actually number additions (the values of the letters are added).

— Perform the calculation (plain letter + keyword letter) (modulo 26).

NB: if the result is greater than or equal to 26, subtract 26 from the result
(where 26 is the length of the alphabet).

— Repeat the calculation for the following letters, if necessary, match the
length of the text to the key, this is repeated infinitely: CLECLECLEC..

Example: Take the first letters of the message D (=3) and the key K (=10)
and add them 3+10=13. Note the value and continue with the next letter
of the message C (=2) and the next letter of the key E (=4): 2+4=6 etc.
When you reach the end of the key, start again at the beginning of it.

— For each number obtained (which must be a value between 0 and 25),
match the letter with the same rank in the alphabet. The encrypted
message is composed of the sequence of letters obtained.

Example:

D C O D Eplain message

1
3 2 3 4values for each letter
4

K E Y K Ekey (repeated)

1 2 1
4 4letter values for the key
0 4 0
1 1 1 result of
6 8
3 2 3 the addition (modulo 26)

N GM N I ciphered message

METHOD 2: Vigenere encryption with a table

To encrypt with Vigenere via a two-input table, use the following

grid/matrix (case where the alphabet
is ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ):

— Locate the column corresponding to the letter of the plain text and the
row corresponding to the letter of the key, the intersection of the row and
the column returns the encrypted letter.

Example: The intersection of column D (4th column), and row K (10th row)
gives the encrypted letter N.

— Repeat with the next letter of the message and the next letter of the
key, when you reach the end of the key, start again at the beginning of it.
Example: NGMNI is the encrypted message.

How to decrypt Vigenere cipher?

Vigenere decryption requires a key (and an alphabet).

Example: Decrypt the message NGMNI with the key KEY and the Latin
alphabet ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Vigenère can be described by 2 decryption methods (which arrive at the

same result)

METHOD 1: Vigenere decryption by letter subtraction

Vigenère decryption consists in subtracting the key from the ciphertext.

— Match, for each letter, the value of its rank in the alphabet, starting
from 0: 0=A,1=B,…,25=Z. The following letter subtraction calculations
are in fact number subtractions (the values of the letters are subtracted).

— Perform the calculation (encrypted letter - keyword letter) (modulo

26). NB: if the result is negative (less than 0), add 26 to the result (where
26 is the length of the alphabet).

— Repeat the calculation for the following letters, if necessary, match the
length of the text to the key, this is repeated infinitely: KEYKEYK..

Example: Take the first letters of the message N (=13) and the
key K (=10) and subtract them (13-10=3), the letter of rank 3 is D.

— For each number obtained (which must be a value between 0 and 25),
match the letter having the same rank in the alphabet. The plain
message is composed of the sequence of letters obtained.

Example:

N GM N I ciphered message

1 1 1
6 8values for each letter
3 2 3

K E Y K Ekey (repeated)

1 2 1
4 4letter values for the key
0 4 0

1 result of
3 2 3 4
4 the subtraction (modulo 26)

D C O D Eplain original message

METHOD 2: Vigenere decryption with a table

To decrypt with Vigenere via a square table with two entries, use the
following grid/matrix (case where the alphabet
is ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ):

— Locate the row of the key letter (left column) and go through the line
until you find the first letter of the encrypted message. Then, go up the
column to read the corresponding plain letter (at the very top).

Example: The letter K corresponds to row 10, go through the row until you
find N, and the name of this column is D, it is the first letter of the plain
message.

— Repeat with the next letter of the message and the next letter of the
key, when you reach the end of the key, start again at the beginning of it.

Example: DCODE is the original plain text.

How to recognize Vigenere ciphertext?

Following a Vigenere encryption, the message has a coincidence
index which decreases between 0.05 and 0.04 depending on the length of
the key, it decreases towards 0.04 the longer the key is.

Any connection with France or the French nationality of Blaise

de Vigenere is a clue.

How to break Vigenere without knowing the key?

Vigenère's keyless decryption techniques begin with statistical methods

that allow the length of the key to be found, then a frequency
analysis allows each letter of the key to be found.

KASISKI TEST

The Kasiski Test (developed by Friedrich Kasiski in 1863) allows the length
of the key used for encryption to be identified. It is based on the
observation that, in a ciphertext with a repeated key, any sequence of
letters appearing several times in the plaintext message has a probability
of being encrypted with the same portion of the key, thus creating the
same sequence of encrypted letters in the encoded message.

The Kasiski test consists of identifying repetitions of letters in the

ciphertext and calculating the distance (in number of characters) between
its occurrences. The common divisors of the distances obtained
correspond to possible lengths for the key.

Example: ABC appears three times in the

message ABCXYZABCKLMNOPQRSABC. The positions of ABC are 0, 6 and
18. The gaps between two identical sequence redundancies are 6, 12 and
18 (they are probably multiples of the key length). The most
common divisors of these numbers are 2, 3 and 6, so the key has a high
probability of being of length 2, 3 or 6.

CALCULATION OF THE COINCIDENCE INDEX

The coincidence index test consists of taking one letter out of N in the
message, and measuring the coincidence index of the message
obtained. The closer the coincidence index is to that of the supposed
language of the plaintext, the higher the probability that N is the length of
the key used.

Indeed, taking a letter out of N when N is the length of the key is

equivalent to taking a series of encrypted letters always encrypted with
the same offset (equivalent to a mono-alphabetic substitution),
the coincidence index is therefore equal to that of the plain text.

FREQUENCY ANALYSIS
Once the length of the key is determined, it is possible to break
the Vigenère cipher using frequency analysis. This method is based
on the predictable distribution of letters in a given language (such as the
high frequency of the letters E, A, T or S in French or English).

— Divide the coded text into several subtexts, each subtext corresponding
to the same offset according to the cycle of the key. (If the key has a
length of N, this amounts to grouping all the letters located at positions
multiples of N).

— Analyze each subtext independently: each subtext is encrypted with a

shift cipher (or Caesar cipher)

— Calculate the frequency of letters in the subtext (count how many times
each letter appears) and compare these frequencies with the frequencies
of letters in the target language. The goal is therefore to find the shift
applied to each subtext and to deduce the letter corresponding to the
shift.

— Once the shift of each subtext is determined, deduce the key or apply
the inverse shift (in negative) to the coded text.

How to find the key when having both cipher and plaintext?

When encrypting, the key is added to the plain text to get encrypted text.
So, from the encrypted text, subtract the plain text to get the key.

NB: This is equivalent to decrypting the encrypted text with the plain text
as key. The key will then appear repeated.

Example: The cipher text is NGMNI and the corresponding plaintext

is DCODE. Use DCODE as key to decrypt NGMNI and find as
plaintext KEYKE which is in fact the key KEY (repeated).

What are the variants of the Vigenere cipher?

The Vigenère cipher has inspired several variants:

— The Beaufort cipher: a variant of the Vigenère cipher where

encryption consists of subtracting the plaintext from the key.

— The Gronsfeld cipher: a variant where the key is directly numeric

(composed only of digits 0-9).

— The Vernam cipher or One-Time Pad (or single-key): the Vigenère

cipher is applied, but the key is random and as long as the plaintext and
is never reused (only one use to guarantee security).

— An autoclave Vigenère cipher (or common-key): rather than

repeating a fixed key, at the end of the key, it is the plaintext (or
ciphertext) that is used as the key. This makes the system less susceptible
to statistical attacks.

— Vigenère cipher with disordered alphabet: the alphabet used in

the Vigenère square can be modified to not follow the
order ABCD..XYZ but can be derived from a keyword or completely
random.

— Vigenère cipher with custom alphabet: other character sets, or

symbols or numbers are used.

— Vigenère cipher with dynamic key: the key can change dynamically
after certain characters or according to predefined rules.

— Saint-Cyr ruler: identical to Vigenère, the mechanical ruler uses two

movable alphabet strips to facilitate encryption and decryption
operations.

How to choose the encryption key?

In order to make Vigenere resistant to attacks, the coder must determine

the most secure encryption key possible. All attacks are based on
detections of key repetitions, so to avoid this pitfall, it is necessary to use
a key as long as possible so that it does not repeat itself, it must be
random and of a length greater than or equal to the size of the text to be
encrypted. This is the case of the Vernam cipher (One-Time Pad).

For even greater security, it is necessary that the key is not used to
encrypt 2 different messages, because a second use of the key is
equivalent to a repetition which would make it lose its security.

What is the running key vigenere cipher?

The variant by running key uses a key length at least equal to that of the
text. This technique makes it possible to secure Vigénère's cipher as
Kasiski's attack is no longer valid.

To get a long enough key, it is common to use a long book or other

message. The use of this kind of key then opens the possibility of other
attacks, by probable word and / or by analysis of the frequencies of the
characters if the message is long enough.

In the particular case where the entire key is made up of random

characters (see Vernam one time pad), then the message becomes
completely unbreakable by any method of cryptanalysis (unconditional
security).

What is the keyed vigenere cipher?

By using a disordered alphabet, or a key that allows the classical Latin
alphabet to be modified, then the frequency analysis is more complex
and the cipher is more resistant to classical attacks.

What are the advantages of the Vigenere cipher versus Caesar

Cipher?

Caesar cipher is in fact a Vigenere cipher with a 1-letter long

key. Vigenere code uses longer keys that allows the letters to be crypted
in multiple ways. The frequency analysis is no more enough to break a
code.

What is a Saint-Cyr slide?

Saint-Cyr slide is a rule-shaped instrument, a tool that simplifies manual

encryption and decryption of a message encrypted with Vigenere. Its
fixed part consists of the alphabet, and its sliding mobile part is a double
alphabet.

To encrypt a letter, move the slider so that the A of the fixed part matches
the letter of the key. Then look at the letter of the mobile part directly
below the letter of the plain message written on the fixed part.

Why the name Vigenere?

The Vigenère cipher is named after Blaise de Vigenère, a 16th-century

French diplomat and cryptographer (1523–1596).

Although he did not invent this method of encryption, he popularized it by

improving and describing it in his 1586 work Treatise on Ciphers, or Secret
Ways to Write available here (affiliate link)

The method was originally proposed by Giovan Battista Bellaso, an Italian

cryptographer, in 1553. However, Vigenère's more comprehensive and
detailed work helped to associate his name with the system.

When Vigenere was invented?

Blaise de Vigenère wrote a treatise describing this cipher in 1586. A full

reedition is available here (affiliate link) However another treatise from
1553 by Giovan Battista Bellaso already described a very similar system.

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Summary

 Vigenere Decoder

 Vigenere Encoder

 What is the Vigenere cipher? (Definition)

 How to encrypt using Vigenere cipher?

 How to decrypt Vigenere cipher?

 How to recognize Vigenere ciphertext?

 How to break Vigenere without knowing the key?

 How to find the key when having both cipher and plaintext?