CLASSICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY

A Technical Seminar Presentation - 2004

National Institute of Science & Technology

CLASSICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY

Under the guidance of

Dr. Partha S. Mallick
Presented by
Jyotishman Baishya
Roll # EC200119320
Jyotishman Baishya EC200119320 [1]
CLASSICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY

Introduction
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Basic Concepts

Cryptography Encipher (encode)

Plaintext Decipher (decode)
Cipher text Cryptanalysis
Cipher Cryptology
Key Code

Jyotishman Baishya EC200119320 [2]

CLASSICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY

Types of Ciphers
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Substitution Transposition

Mono-alphabetic Scytale
Poly-alphabetic Reverse
Poly-graphic Rail Fence
Geometric
Row/Column
Jyotishman Baishya EC200119320 [3]
CLASSICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY

Mono-alphabetic Substitution
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Caesar Cipher
2000 years ago Julius Caesar used a simple substitution
cipher, now known as the Caesar cipher
first attested use in military affairs (Gallic Wars)
replace each letter by 3rd letter on, eg.
L FDPH L VDZ L FRQTXHUHG is
I CAME I SAW I CONQUERED
can describe this mapping (or translation alphabet)
as:
Plain: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Cipher: EFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABC
Jyotishman Baishya EC200119320 [4]
CLASSICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY

General Mono-alphabetic Substitution

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rather than just shifting the alphabet could shuffle

(jumble) the letters arbitrarily
each plain text letter maps to a different random
cipher text letter
hence key is 26 letters long
have a total of 26! ~ 4 x 1026 keys!
but … can be cracked through frequency analysis
Jyotishman Baishya EC200119320 [5]
CLASSICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY

Poly-alphabetic Substitution Cipher

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Vigenère Cipher
Blaise de Vigenère is generally credited as the inventor of the
“polyalphabetic substitution cipher”
To improve security use many monoalphabetic substitution
alphabets
Hence each letter can be replaced by many others
Use a key to select which alphabet is used for each letter of the
message
ith letter of key specifies ith alphabet to use
Use each alphabet in turn
Repeat from start after end of key is reached
Jyotishman Baishya EC200119320 [6]
CLASSICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY

Vigenère Example
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Write the plaintext out and under it write the keyword repeated
Then using each key letter in turn as a Caesar cipher key
Encrypt the corresponding plaintext letter Plaintext
THISPROCESSCANALSOBEEXPRESSED
Keyword CIPHERCIPHERCIPHERCIPHERCIPHE
Ciphertext VPXZTIQKTZWTCVPSWFDMTETIGAHLH
In this example the keyword is "CIPHER". Hence the following
translation alphabets are mapped to the plaintext letters:
C: - CDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZAB
I: - IJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGH… …
for ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Jyotishman Baishya EC200119320 [7]
CLASSICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY

Hill Cipher
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A multiple-letter encryption method – encrypts m letters of

plaintext at each step
The encryption key K is a m x m matrix of coefficients
To encrypt – multiply the matrix K by a vector of m plaintext
letters to receive a vector of m ciphertext letters. (Arithmetic is
modulo the size of the alphabet.)
The encryption key K is a m x m matrix of coefficients
The decryption key K-1 is the m x m matrix of coefficients that
is the inverse of matrix K:K * K-1 = I
To decrypt – multiply the matrix K-1 by the vector of m
ciphertext letters to receive the vector of m plaintext letters.
(Arithmetic is modulo the size of the alphabet.)
Jyotishman Baishya EC200119320 [8]
CLASSICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY

Transposition Ciphers
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Scytale cipher
a strip of paper was wound round a staff
message written along staff in rows, then paper removed leaving a
strip of seemingly random letters
not very secure as key was width of paper & staff
Reverse cipher
write the message backwards
Rail Fence cipher
write message with letters on alternate rows
Geometric Cipher
Write message following one pattern and read out with another.
Jyotishman Baishya EC200119320 [9]
CLASSICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY

Transposition Ciphers (contd…)

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Row Transposition ciphers

in general write message in a number of columns and
then use some rule to read off from these columns.
key could be a series of number being the order to: read
off the cipher; or write in the plaintext.
Block (Columnar) Transposition ciphers
the message is written in rows, but read off by columns
in order given by key.
for ease of recovery may insist matrix is filled.
Jyotishman Baishya EC200119320 [10]
CLASSICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY

Poly-alphabetic Cipher Machines

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Jefferson Wheel

Rotor Based Machines

Jyotishman Baishya EC200119320 [11]

CLASSICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY

Conclusion
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Cryptography has undergone tremendous development since the

days it had come into existence some 4000 years ago.
The world of research and development continues to experiment
with new concepts such as quantum cryptography, cellular
automata, chaotic cryptosystems, elliptic curves based on
cryptography and visual cryptography.
Developments are also taking place in the area of most
sophisticated methods of digital steganography.
Simultaneously some challenging area of cryptanalysis, being the
other side of development exercise will gain importance in view
of the plethora applications demanding assured security.
Jyotishman Baishya EC200119320 [12]
CLASSICAL CRYPTOGRAPHY
National Institute of Science & Technology

Jyotishman Baishya EC200119320 [13]