10/3/2017 Cipher - Wikipedia

Cipher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing

encryption or decryptiona series of well-defined steps that can be
followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is
encipherment. To encipher or encode is to convert information into cipher
or code. In common parlance, "cipher" is synonymous with "code", as they
are both a set of steps that encrypt a message; however, the concepts are
distinct in cryptography, especially classical cryptography.

Codes generally substitute different length strings of characters in the

output, while ciphers generally substitute the same number of characters as
are input. There are exceptions and some cipher systems may use slightly
more, or fewer, characters when output versus the number that were input.

Codes operated by substituting according to a large codebook which linked

a random string of characters or numbers to a word or phrase. For example,
"UQJHSE" could be the code for "Proceed to the following coordinates."
When using a cipher the original information is known as plaintext, and the
encrypted form as ciphertext. The ciphertext message contains all the
information of the plaintext message, but is not in a format readable by a
human or computer without the proper mechanism to decrypt it.
Edward Larsson's rune cipher
The operation of a cipher usually depends on a piece of auxiliary resembling that found on the
information, called a key (or, in traditional NSA parlance, a Kensington Runestone. Also includes
cryptovariable). The encrypting procedure is varied depending on the key, runically unrelated blackletter writing
which changes the detailed operation of the algorithm. A key must be style and pigpen cipher.
selected before using a cipher to encrypt a message. Without knowledge of
the key, it should be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to decrypt the
resulting ciphertext into readable plaintext.

Most modern ciphers can be categorized in several ways

By whether they work on blocks of symbols usually of a fixed size (block ciphers), or on a continuous
stream of symbols (stream ciphers).
By whether the same key is used for both encryption and decryption (symmetric key algorithms), or if a
different key is used for each (asymmetric key algorithms). If the algorithm is symmetric, the key must be
known to the recipient and sender and to no one else. If the algorithm is an asymmetric one, the enciphering
key is different from, but closely related to, the deciphering key. If one key cannot be deduced from the
other, the asymmetric key algorithm has the public/private key property and one of the keys may be made
public without loss of confidentiality.

Contents
1 Etymology
2 Versus codes
3 Types
3.1 Historical
3.2 Modern
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher 1/5
10/3/2017 Cipher - Wikipedia

4 Key size and vulnerability

5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 External links

Etymology
The word "cipher" (minority spelling "cypher") in former times meant "zero" and had the same origin: Middle
French as cifre and Medieval Latin as cifra, from the Arabic sifr = zero (see ZeroEtymology). "Cipher" was
later used for any decimal digit, even any number. There are many theories about how the word "cipher" may have
come to mean "encoding". In fact the more ancient source of word "Cypher" is the ancient Hebrew; there are more
than 100 verses in the Hebrew Bible - Torah using word "Cepher": means (Book or Story telling), and in some of
them the word "Cipher" literally means (Counting)-- (Numerical description)-- Example, Book 2 Samuel 24:10,
Isaiah 33:18, and Jeremiah 52:25.

Encoding often involved numbers.

The Roman number system was very cumbersome because there was no concept of zero (or empty space).
The concept of zero (which was also called "cipher"), which is now common knowledge, was alien to
medieval Europe, so confusing and ambiguous to common Europeans that in arguments people would say
"talk clearly and not so far fetched as a cipher". Cipher came to mean concealment of clear messages or
encryption.
The French formed the word "chiffre" and adopted the Italian word "zero".
The English used "zero" for "0", and "cipher" from the word "ciphering" as a means of computing.
The Germans used the words "Ziffer" (digit) and "Chiffre".
The Dutch still use the word "cijfer" to refer to a numerical digit.
The Serbians use the word "cifra", which refers to a digit, or in some cases, any number. Besides
"cifra", they use word "broj" for a number.
The Italians and the Spanish also use the word "cifra" to refer to a number.
The Swedes use the word "siffra" which refers to a digit and "nummer" to refer to a combination of
"siffror".

Ibrahim Al-Kadi concluded that the Arabic word sifr, for the digit zero, developed into the European technical term
for encryption.[1]

As the decimal zero and its new mathematics spread from the Arabic world to Europe in the Middle Ages, words
derived from sifr and zephyrus came to refer to calculation, as well as to privileged knowledge and secret codes.
According to Ifrah, "in thirteenth-century Paris, a 'worthless fellow' was called a '... cifre en algorisme', i.e., an
'arithmetical nothing'."[2] Cipher was the European pronunciation of sifr, and cipher came to mean a message or
communication not easily understood.[3]

Versus codes
In non-technical usage, a "(secret) code" typically means a "cipher". Within technical discussions, however, the
words "code" and "cipher" refer to two different concepts. Codes work at the level of meaningthat is, words or
phrases are converted into something else and this chunking generally shortens the message.

An example of this is the Commercial Telegraph Code which was used to shorten long telegraph messages which
resulted from entering into commercial contracts using exchanges of Telegrams.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher 2/5
10/3/2017 Cipher - Wikipedia

Another example is given by whole word ciphers, which allow the user to replace an entire word with a symbol or
character, much like the way Japanese utilize Kanji (Japanese) characters to supplement their language. ex "The
quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" becomes "The quick brown jumps the lazy ".

Ciphers, on the other hand, work at a lower level: the level of individual letters, small groups of letters, or, in
modern schemes, individual bits and blocks of bits. Some systems used both codes and ciphers in one system,
using superencipherment to increase the security. In some cases the terms codes and ciphers are also used
synonymously to substitution and transposition.

Historically, cryptography was split into a dichotomy of codes and ciphers; and coding had its own terminology,
analogous to that for ciphers: "encoding, codetext, decoding" and so on.

However, codes have a variety of drawbacks, including susceptibility to cryptanalysis and the difficulty of
managing a cumbersome codebook. Because of this, codes have fallen into disuse in modern cryptography, and
ciphers are the dominant technique.

Types
There are a variety of different types of encryption. Algorithms used earlier in the history of cryptography are
substantially different from modern methods, and modern ciphers can be classified according to how they operate
and whether they use one or two keys.

Historical

Historical pen and paper ciphers used in the past are sometimes known as classical ciphers. They include simple
substitution ciphers (such as Rot 13) and transposition ciphers (such as a Rail Fence Cipher). For example, "GOOD
DOG" can be encrypted as "PLLX XLP" where "L" substitutes for "O", "P" for "G", and "X" for "D" in the
message. Transposition of the letters "GOOD DOG" can result in "DGOGDOO". These simple ciphers and
examples are easy to crack, even without plaintext-ciphertext pairs.

Simple ciphers were replaced by polyalphabetic substitution ciphers (such as the Vigenre) which changed the
substitution alphabet for every letter. For example, "GOOD DOG" can be encrypted as "PLSX TWF" where "L",
"S", and "W" substitute for "O". With even a small amount of known or estimated plaintext, simple polyalphabetic
substitution ciphers and letter transposition ciphers designed for pen and paper encryption are easy to crack.[4] It is
possible to create a secure pen and paper cipher based on a one-time pad though, but the usual disadvantages of
one-time pads apply.

During the early twentieth century, electro-mechanical machines were invented to do encryption and decryption
using transposition, polyalphabetic substitution, and a kind of "additive" substitution. In rotor machines, several
rotor disks provided polyalphabetic substitution, while plug boards provided another substitution. Keys were easily
changed by changing the rotor disks and the plugboard wires. Although these encryption methods were more
complex than previous schemes and required machines to encrypt and decrypt, other machines such as the British
Bombe were invented to crack these encryption methods.

Modern

Modern encryption methods can be divided by two criteria: by type of key used, and by type of input data.

By type of key used ciphers are divided into:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher 3/5
10/3/2017 Cipher - Wikipedia

symmetric key algorithms (Private-key cryptography), where the same key is used for encryption and
decryption, and
asymmetric key algorithms (Public-key cryptography), where two different keys are used for encryption and
decryption.

In a symmetric key algorithm (e.g., DES and AES), the sender and receiver must have a shared key set up in
advance and kept secret from all other parties; the sender uses this key for encryption, and the receiver uses the
same key for decryption. The Feistel cipher uses a combination of substitution and transposition techniques. Most
block cipher algorithms are based on this structure. In an asymmetric key algorithm (e.g., RSA), there are two
separate keys: a public key is published and enables any sender to perform encryption, while a private key is kept
secret by the receiver and enables only him to perform correct decryption.

Ciphers can be distinguished into two types by the type of input data:

block ciphers, which encrypt block of data of fixed size, and

stream ciphers, which encrypt continuous streams of data

Key size and vulnerability

In a pure mathematical attack, (i.e., lacking any other information to help break a cipher) two factors above all
count:

Computational power available, i.e., the computing power which can be brought to bear on the problem. It is
important to note that average performance/capacity of a single computer is not the only factor to consider.
An adversary can use multiple computers at once, for instance, to increase the speed of exhaustive search for
a key (i.e., "brute force" attack) substantially.
Key size, i.e., the size of key used to encrypt a message. As the key size increases, so does the complexity of
exhaustive search to the point where it becomes impracticable to crack encryption directly.

Since the desired effect is computational difficulty, in theory one would choose an algorithm and desired difficulty
level, thus decide the key length accordingly.

An example of this process can be found at Key Length (http://www.keylength.com/) which uses multiple reports
to suggest that a symmetric cipher with 128 bits, an asymmetric cipher with 3072 bit keys, and an elliptic curve
cipher with 512 bits, all have similar difficulty at present.

Claude Shannon proved, using information theory considerations, that any theoretically unbreakable cipher must
have keys which are at least as long as the plaintext, and used only once: one-time pad.

See also
Autokey cipher Pretty Good Privacy
Cover-coding Steganography
Cryptography Classification Telegraph code
Encryption software
Famous ciphertexts
Pretty Good Privacy
Notes
1. Ibrahim A. Al-Kadi, "Cryptography and Data Security: Cryptographic Properties of Arabic", proceedings of
the Third Saudi Engineering Conference. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Nov 24-27, Vol 2:910-921., 1991.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher 4/5
10/3/2017 Cipher - Wikipedia

2. Ifrah, Georges (2000). The Universal History of Numbers: From Prehistory to the Invention of the Computer.
Wiley. ISBN 0-471-39340-1.
3. The Muslim next door : the Qur'an, the media, and that veil thing, Sumbul Ali-Karamali, 2008, pp. 240-241
4. Stinson, p. 45

References
Richard J. Aldrich, GCHQ: The Uncensored Story of Britain's Most Secret Intelligence Agency,
HarperCollins July 2010.
Helen Fouch Gaines, "Cryptanalysis", 1939, Dover. ISBN 0-486-20097-3
Ibrahim A. Al-Kadi, "The origins of cryptology: The Arab contributions", Cryptologia, 16(2) (April 1992)
pp. 97126.
David Kahn, The Codebreakers - The Story of Secret Writing (ISBN 0-684-83130-9) (1967)
David A. King, The ciphers of the monks - A forgotten number notation of the Middle Ages, Stuttgart: Franz
Steiner, 2001 (ISBN 3-515-07640-9)
Abraham Sinkov, Elementary Cryptanalysis: A Mathematical Approach, Mathematical Association of
America, 1966. ISBN 0-88385-622-0
William Stallings, Cryptography and Network Security, principles and practices, 4th Edition
Stinson, Douglas R. (1995), Cryptogtaphy / Theory and Practice, CRC Press, ISBN 0-8493-8521-0

External links
Kish cypher (http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Secure_communications_using_the_KLJN_scheme)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cipher&oldid=803070527"

This page was last edited on 30 September 2017, at 07:51.

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark
of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cipher 5/5