CryptographyWorksheetTransposi onCiphers1

Onewaytoencipheramessageistojumbletheorderthatthele ersarewri enin.

Whatdoesthismessagesay:KCATTA?Howhasitbeenenciphered?
Whatisbadaboutthismethodofenciphering?
Canyouthinkofanyotherwaystoreorderthele ersofamessage?
Ciphersthatuseamethodofjumblingtheorderthatthele ersoftheplaintextarewri enarecalled
Transforma onCiphers.

AScytalewasanancienttoolusedforencryp ngmessages,andistheearliestknownmachineusedfor
cryptography.ItwasusedbytheAncientGreeks,andspecificallytheSpartans,tosendsecretmessages
duringmilitarycampaigns.Boththesenderandreceiver
wouldneediden calrods(thesamelengthanddiameter).
Thesenderofthemessagewouldwrapalongthinpieceof
leatheraroundhisScytale,andwritethemessageinrows.
WhentheleatherwasremovedfromtheScytale,ithada
longlistofle ersrunningdownit,itnopar cularorder.
Whenthemessagewasdelivered,therecipientwould
onceagainwraptheleatheraroundhisScytale,revealing
theoriginalmessage.
WhatisthecipherkeywhenusingaScytale?

TheScytalehasbeenadaptedintoawri enciphercalledColumnarTransposi on.Forthis,youneeda

gridwith5columns,andyouwritethemessagehorizontallyacrossthegrid,movingtothenextrow
whenyoureachtheendoftherow.SofortheplaintextMeetmeatthefountainatnine,wegetthe
tableshown.Completethetablewiththerestoftheplaintext.

Wethenreadotheciphertextfromthetablebyreadingdowneach
columninorder.Whatistheciphertextforthisencryp on?

HowisthisthesameastheScytale?
HowsecureisColumnarTransposi on?Couldwemakeitmoresecure?How?

crypto.interac vemaths.com

CryptographyWorksheetTransposi onCiphers2

Youreceivethefollowingmessagefromafriend,thatyouknowhasbeenencryptedusingColumnar
Transposi on,with5columns.Decipherit.Explainhowyoudoit.
ANYLDTRTIOLMHKMGUFEEXIHWIIPXDTINNAX
(HINT:Howmanyrowswilltherebeinthegrid?)
Whatdoyouno ceaboutthelastfewle ersoftheplaintext?Whydoyouthinkthisis?
Doesthiscauseanyproblemstothesecurityofthecipher?

Chooseakey(anumberofcolumns),andencipherashortmessageusingthiskey.Givethekeyandthe
ciphertexttoafriendtodecode.

TherearelotsofdierenttypesofTransposi onCipher.OneofthemorefamousonesiscalledtheRail
fenceCipher.Inthiscipherwewritetheplaintextdiagonallyacrosstwolines.Forexample,giventhe
plaintextLifeshouldbesimplewewriteitoutasshownbelow.Completethetable.

Wethenreadacrossthetoprow,andthenacrossthebo omrow.Whatistheciphertext?
HowcanweintroduceakeytotheRailfenceCiphertomakeitmoresecure?
HowwouldweuseaRailfenceCipherwith4rows?Encipherthesamemessagethisway.

Chooseakey,andencipheramessageofyourown.Passittoafriendforthemtodecipher.

Canyouthinkofanyotherwaysoftransposingthele ersofamessage?Explainyouciphertotheperson
nexttoyou,andgivethemandencipheredmessagetodecipher.

WhathappensifyouapplyaTransposi onCiphertwice?IsthesametrueforSubs tu onCiphers?

crypto.interac vemaths.com

TeachersNotesTransposi onCiphers1
Ifthisiscominga eradiscussionofFrequencyAnalysis,thenintroducingthesetypesofciphersasways
ofge ngroundtheproblemofFrequencyAnalysiswillprobablybebeneficial.Duetothefactthatle ers
arenotreplaced,butratherjustmovedwithintheplaintext,thefrequencyofthele erswillremainthe
sameasfortheoriginallanguage.
Howcouldwereorderthele ersinwordtocreateaciphertext?Sugges onswillprobablyincludewri ng
itbackwards,swappingpairsofle ers,etc.Thefirstques onhashadtheorderofthele ersreversed,so
KCATTAbecomesa ack.Discussthatthisisaverysimplis cmethodofenciphering,andthatitiseas
ilybreakable,evenbysomeonewhohasnotcomeacrosscryptography.
Notethat,whentheyaregivingideasforhowtoreorderthele ers,thatitmustbeeasytouseforboth
thepersonenciphering,andthepersonintendedtodecipherthemessage(soalistofnumbersforwhere
toputthele ersisimprac cal).
Allcipherswhichreorderthele ersofthePlaintextarecalledTransposi onCiphers.Discusswhattrans
posi onmeans(tomovesomething).
WhendiscussingtheuseoftheScytale,itwouldbeveryusefultohaveamodelpreparedbeforetheles
son.Tomakethis,allyouneedisacylinder(orpreferably2iden calcylinders)ofanysize(anyprismwill
workaswell).Thencutalongstripofpaperout,thatwrapsroundthecylinder.Todemonstrateitsusein
class,writeashortmessageonthepaperwhilstitiswrappedaroundthecylinder,andthenunwrapit.
Passitroundtheroom,toshowthatthemessagehasbeenscrambled.Thenaskapupiltowrapthestrip
aroundthecylinder,torecovertheoriginalmessage.(Asaprac calac vity,makingtheirownScytaleto
usewouldbepleasantwithsomegroups,andinvolvescarefulmeasuringandnets).ThekeyforaScytale
istheroditself,andthesizeoftherod.

ColumnarTransposi onistheformalwayofwri ngouthowthe

Scytaleworks.Shownisthecompletedtable.Theciphertextis
MEETTEAFANETOIITTUNNMHNAE.

ColumnaristhesameastheScytalesincewewritetheplaintextin
thesameorder,andwhenyouunwraptheleatherontheScytale,
youhavemovedthele ersbythesameruleasusingthismethod.

ColumnarTransposi onisnotverysecureasinthisformithasnokey.Itcanbemademoresecureby
usingakey.Inthiscase,thekeywouldbehowmanycolumnstouseinthegrid.Thisisequivalenttothe
lengthoftheScytaleused.
Anothermethodusedformakingtheciphermoresecureistoreadthecolumnsoinadierentorder,
givenbyalistofnumbersperhaps(where25134meanseitherreadthethirdcolumnfirst,thenthefirst
column,thenthefourth,fi handfinallysecondcolumnsorreadthesecondfirst,thenthefi h,first,
thirdandfourth).Anothercommonwayfordoingthisisusingakeyword,wherethealphabe calorderof
thele ersgivestheorder(sobreadwouldgivetheorder25413).
crypto.interac vemaths.com

TeachersNotesTransposi onCiphers2
Theplaintextreads:Atmidnight,youwillfindmeinthepark.
Themethodtodecipheristofirstworkouthowmanyrowsareneed
ed.Thisiseasytocalculateasthenumberofrows mesbythenum
berofcolumnsequalsthenumbersofle ers.Sincethereare5col
umns,and35le ers,theremustbe7rows.(Howdidthefactthatthe
ciphertextisgroupedintoblocksof5helpushere).Nowyoujust
needtowriteouttheciphertextdownthecolumns,revealingthe
plaintexthorizontallyacrosstherows.

Inthegrid,wehaveinsertedthele erXtofillinanyemptysquares r
k
x
x
x
inthelastrow.Thisisdonetomakethedecipheringeasier.Itdoes
nothavetobethele erXthatisused,some mespunctua onmarksareused,orotherinfrequent
le ers.Unfortunately,doingthiscanactuallyhelpsomebodywhointerceptsthemessagetobreakthe
cipher,sincetheXsintheciphertextare7apart,theycanworkoutthattherearesevenrowswithout
knowingthekey.ThiscanbeavoidedbyaddingtheXsrandomlyinthegrid,ratherthanallattheend,
andremovingthemwhendeciphering.
IntheRailfenceCipheryouwritethefirstle erinthetople box,thenthesecondle erintheboxdiag
onallydowntotheright.Whenyoureachthebo omrow,youmoverightonebox,butbackuptothe
top.Thecompletedtableisshown,andtheciphertextis:LFSOLBSMLIEHUDEIPE.

ThekeyintheRailfenceCipherisprovidedbythenumberofrowsdownthatyougo.Using4rows,weget
theciphertextLSLSLIHDIEFOBMEUEP.

Othermethodsfortransposingthele ersofthemessagecouldinclude:wri ngtheminaspiralinagiven

gridsize(star nginthecentreortople )andadirec on.
Ifyouapplyatransposi onciphertwice,thenitjustmixesthele ersupevenmore.Thismakeitharder
forsomeonewhointerceptsittobreakthecode,butitalsomakesitabithardertodecipherthemes
sage.Thisisnottrueforsubs tu onciphers.IfyouencipheratoF,andthenFtoW,thenthisis
thesameasjustmappingatoW.Whatismoresecure,however,istoperformasubs tu on,fol
lowedbyatransposi on.
crypto.interac vemaths.com