Cryptography

artorscienceconcerningtheprinciples,meansandmethodsforrendering
plaininformationunintelligibleandforrestoringencryptedinformationto
intelligibleform.NationalInformationSystemSecurityGlossary(NSTISSC)

plaintext

plaintext
ciphertext
ZXYCTHI

MESSAGE
encode/encipher

algorithm

MESSAGE
decode/decipher

algorithm

xaiettlnp

areadableformforamessage(e.g.Englishtext)

tcxiepthre
dcnoee

ascrambledversionofsomeplaintextmessageintendedto
protectthemessagesconfidentialityand/orintegrity
translatefromplaintexttociphertext

dceoed

translatefromciphertextbacktoplaintext

pihcenre

synonymforencode(technically,encodesasinglesymbol/character)

pihcdere

synonymfordecode(technically,decodesasinglesymbol)

niprnecyto

theactofencoding

niprdecyto

theactofdecoding

ysterocmptsyacollectionofalgorithmsforencryptionanddecryption
hpicer

aparticularcryptosystem

ytapopcghyrrthestudyofcryptosystems(thescienceofsecretwriting)

plaintext

plaintext
ciphertext
ZXYCTHI

MESSAGE
encode/encipher

Function
E(plaintext)=ciphertext

MESSAGE
decode/decipher

InverseFunction
E1(ciphertext)=plaintext

EncryptionAlgorithm

Eachletter(Lp)isreplacedbytheletterfromthefollowingfunction:
E(Lp)=(Lp+3)mod26
lettersarenumberedfromzero(A0,B1,Z25)

Example
HIMOMSENDDOLLARS plaintext

KLPRPVHQGGROODUV ciphertext

DecryptionAlgorithm

Eachletter(Lc)isreplacedbytheletterfromthefollowingfunction:
D(Lc)=

SimpleCaesarCipher
E(Lp)=(Lp+3)mod26

GeneralizedCaesarCipher
ECaesar(Lp,k)=(Lp+k)mod26

Key

asequenceofrandomorpseudorandombitsusedinitiallytosetupandperiodically
changetheoperationsperformedincryptoequipmentforthepurposeofencrypting
ordecryptingelectronicsignals...NationalInformationSystemSecurityGlossary(NSTISSC)

SymmetricEncryption

plaintext

plaintext

ciphertext
encryptionalgorithm

decryptionalgorithm

AsymmetricEncryption

plaintext

plaintext

ciphertext
encryptionalgorithm

decryptionalgorithm

IstheCaesarCipher(keyedversion)symmetricorasymmetric?
rot13(Lp)=ECaesar(Lp,13)
Notethatrot13=rot131(i.e.rot13decodesanymessageencodedwithrot13)
Ingeneral,whatisDCaesar(Ln,k)intermsofECaesar(Ln,k)?

Encode

Decode

ECaesar(Lp,k)=(Lp+k)mod26

DCaesar(Lc,k)=

Symmetricencryptionisalsoknownas________keyencryption,
becausethekeymustbekeptprivatefrom

codebreaker

Cryptanalysis

operationsperformedinconvertingencryptedmessagesto
plaintextwithoutinitialknowledgeofthecryptoalgorithm
and/orkeyemployedintheencryption.

NationalInformationSystemSecurityGlossary(NSTISSC)

codebreaker

CommonCryptanalysisAttacks

AttackType

CryptanalysisKnowledge

ciphertextonly

encryptionalgorithm(lessthekey)
ciphertexttobedeciphered

knownplaintext

encryptionalgorithm(lessthekey)
ciphertexttobedeciphered
asegmentofplaintextwithcorrespondingciphertext

chosenplaintext

encryptionalgorithm(lessthekey)
ciphertexttobedeciphered
asegmentofplaintextselectedbycryptanalyst
withcorrespondingciphertext

HowdifficultiscryptanalysisonakeyedCaesarcipher?

substitution

Asubstitutioncipherformsciphertextfromreplacingplaintextbitpatterns
withotherbitpatterns.
Asimple(monoalphabetic)substitutionalwaysmapsthesamebitpatternconsistently.

Example(Caesarcipherwithkey=1)
E( )

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZA

AnotherExample

Useawordaskey.Encodeusingwordfollowedbyremainingalphabet.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
TURKEY
TURKEYABCDFGHIJLMNOPQSVWXZ

Cryptanalysisofthissecondexample?

D( )

Nonsequential
Thereisnothingtosuggestthatalphabeticorderingbeusedatall.(Whynot
useeverythirdletterinthealphabet?)
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
CFILORUXADGJMPSVYBEHKNQTWZ

Thereisaneedtouseaproperpermutation.Why?

Nonalphabetic
Computershavenoneedtousealphabetsbitstringsareeasier.

bruteforce(formonoalphabeticsubstitution)
Thereare26!simplesubstitutionciphersfromtheEnglishalphabet.

alphabeticfrequencycryptanalysis(CryptographyandDataSecurity,Denning,1982.)
Supposeyouknowonlythatthecipherusessometabularmonoalphabeticsubstitution.
14%

12%

10%

8%

6%

4%

2%

0%
Frequency

8 1.5 3

13

2 1.5 6 6.5 0.5 0.5 3.5 3

2 0.2 6.5 6

1 1.5 0.5 2 0.2

Digramsandtrigramscanbeanalyzedinsimilarfashion.

In1949Shannonproposedthefollowingcharacteristicsofagoodcipher:
1)Theamountofrequiredsecrecyshoulddeterminetheamountofencrypting/decryptingwork.
2)Thechoiceofkeysandtheencipheringalgorithmshouldbefreefromcomplexity.
3)Theimplementationoftheprocessshouldbeassimpleaspossible.
4)Errorsincipheringshouldnotpropagate,corruptingothermessageparts.
5)Thesizeoftheciphertextshouldbenolargerthanitscorrespondingplaintext.
Todayspriorities:
1)Theencryption/decryptionalgorithmmustbeproventobemathematicallysound.
2)Thealgorithmmusthavebeenanalyzedbyexpertsforitsvulnerability.
3)Thealgorithmmusthavestoodthetestoftime.
4)Timetoencode/decodemuststillbeacceptable.

(basisforwellknownpolyalphabeticsubstitutionciphers)

Tableau

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZA
CDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZAB
DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABC
EFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCD
FGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDE
GHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEF
HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFG
IJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGH
JKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHI
KLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJ
LMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJK
MNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKL
NOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLM
OPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMN
...
ZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY

Useastringaskey,repeatedly.Thekeylettersserveasrowindicesforenciphering.

Example

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZA
CDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZAB
DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABC
EFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCD
FGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDE
GHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEF
HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFG
IJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGH
JKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHI
KLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJ
LMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJK
MNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKL
NOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLM
OPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMN
...
ZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXY

milkmilkmilkmilk

key=milk

HIMOMSENDDOLLARS

plaintext
Cryptanalysisofsuchacipher?

TQXYYAPXPLZVXICC

ciphertext

DesignedbyBritishscientistSitCharlesWheatstone(1854)andpromotedby
BaronPlayfairofSt.Andrews.
adualalphabeticsubstitutioncipher
usesakeyconsistingofastringofuniquecharacters(e.g.SECURITY)

EncryptionAlgorithm

1)Build5by5tablebeginningwithkeyfollowed
byremainingalphabet(combineI/J).
2)InsertXbetweenrepeatedlettersinplaintext.
(e.g.BALLOONbecomesBALXLOXON

SECUR
I/JTYAB
DFGHK
LMNOP
QVWXZ

3)Eachpairofletters(Lleft,Lright)frommodifiedplaintextisreplacedasfollows:
a)IfLleftinsamerowasLright,thenreplaceeachwithletterinnextcolumntoitsright.
(e.g.forpairFKsubstituteGD)
b)IfLleftinsamecolumnasLright,thenreplaceeachwithletterinrowbeneath.
(e.g.forpairVTsubstituteEF)
c)IfLleftandLrightindifferentrowsandcolums,thenreplaceeachwiththetable
letterfromitsownrowandtheotherletterscolumn.
(e.g.forpairUNsubstituteCO)

Example
HIMOMSENDDOLLARS

SECUR
I/JTYAB
DFGHK
LMNOP
QVWXZ

plaintext

HIMOMSENDXDOLXLARS

DANPLECMHQHLOQTBSE

ciphertext

Stillvulnerabletodigramandsinglecharacterfrequencyattacks.

ThestandardVignreciphercanbebrokenbyanalyzingtheperiodoftherepeatingkey.

OneTimePad
theinventionofanArmySignalCorpofficer,JosephMauborgne.
provablyunbreakable!
algorithm:aVignrecipherusingarandomkeyofinfinitelength.

Whatsthecatch?

Itispossibletouseabookcipherapadofkeythatareusedthendiscarded.
Anotheralternativeistouseatable(e.g.ofsinevalues)orabook.

Vernamcipher
CreatedbyGilbertVernam(BellLabs)
Usepapertape(teletype)todeliveranarbitrarilylongnonrepeatingsequenceofkeys.
Encode/decodebynumericfunctionratherthanVignretable.
Plaintext
Key

Symbol

Decimal

Bit String

82

01010010

15

00001111

Example1:useXORtoencodeanddecode.
EVernam(R,15) =010100100001111=
Example2:Encodewithadditionmod256.
EVernam(R,15) =(82+15)mod256=
WhatisDVernam(X,K)?

substituteortransposeorproduct
Asubstitutioncipherformsciphertextfromreplacingplaintextbitpatterns
withotherbitpatterns.
Atranspositioncipherformsciphertextfromrearrangingplaintextbitsequences.
Aproductcipherusesbothsubstitutionandtransposition.

streamorblock
Astreamciphertransformsplaintextonesmallsubsequence(bit,byte,letter)at
atime.
Ablockciphertransformsalargerunitsofplaintext(usually64or128bits).

RailFenceTransposition

Encipherbyarrangingplaintextintworows,asillustratedbelow.
HMMEDOLR
IOSNDLAS

plaintext(indiagonalrows)

HMMEDOLRIOSNDLAS

ciphertext

Arailfencecypheristrivialtocryptanalyze,muchlikeanCaesarcipher.

TabularTransposition

Arrangeplaintextrowbyrowin2Dgridandselectciphertextfromcolumns.
Useakeytodeterminecolumnorder.
35241 key
HIMOM
SENDD
OLLAR
S

MDRMNLHSOSODRIEL

plaintext(in5letterrows)

ciphertext

Thepriortabulartranspositionisstillextremelyvulnerabletoattackby
digramfrequencyanalysis.Arepeatedtranspositionimprovesthecipher.
35241 key
HIMOM
SENDD
OLLAR
S

MDRMN
LHSOS
ODRIE
L

plaintext(in5letterrows)

afterfirsttransposition

NSERSRMLOLMOIDHD

ciphertext

Cryptanalysisofsuchacipher?