1

Renovated Playfair Cipher

Supervision
Jamil Ahmad
Muhammad Ms.Noreen Sharif Ali

Department of computer science Department of computer science Department of

computer science
University Of Baltistan University Of Baltistan University
Of Baltistan
Skardu Skardu Skardu
jameel.shigri@gmail.com noreensharif123@yahoo.com
aa.aziz.tormik@gmail.com
Abstract
The theme of this research paper is to provide security for the data and information which contains not only
alphabets but also numbers and special characters during its transmission from one entity to another. There are
numerous drawbacks found in traditional playfair cipher, and there are several proposals are given to remove these
weaknesses. Our research proposed a 7x13 size table in place of 5x5 table and we are proposing to do encryption
and decryption in number of rounds, each time with a new table of 7x13. This table not only includes all capital
English alphabets but also small alphabets and numbers from 0 to 9 as well. Various type of cryptography attacks
and weaknesses for traditional playfair cipher have been taken under consideration and trying to remove them by
Renovated Playfair Cipher.

Keywords- Renovated playfair cipher, cryptography, encryption, decryption.

and decryption of message is known as

I. INTRODUCTION1
I n contemporary era of computer science and
telecommunication, where the number of internet
and web users are increasing day by day. The
individuals and public from different regions of
world is entirely connected via internet and web.
There are numerous benefits and assistances of the
facility of sharing and shipping of data and other
valuable information via internet and web over the
traditional communication systems. But there are
certain risks and threats also exists in current
communication systems. Some of the basic threats
and potentials are data integrity, data authentication,
repudiation, data confidentiality etc. if the scenario is
to keep data safe at a particular system then that was
not a big problem to secure it from unauthenticated
person. We can keep it safe by employing different
access control techniques like password, fingerprint
etc. But the current scenario is totally different, each
and every computer is now connected to web and
internet and one entity has to send data and
information to another, mostly these data sets are
subjected to travel through non-secure paths from
one entity to another, so we need some mean to
convert (encrypt) the messages and data sets into a
form that is only understandable after reconversion
(decrypt) to the original message. This encryption
1 characters. We want to secure the key and we will
Cryptography.
The basic principle of the Cryptography lies in the
fact that the original message is ciphered at the
sender’s end, then transmitting that ciphered
message over a secure channel and then finally being
deciphered to obtain the original message over
receiver’s end. Cipher text is the message which is
obtained after the encryption is done using a key. In
such situation key is the main factor of security and
good cryptography algorithm have place all secrecy
in its key not in the algorithm. Key is only known by
the sender and receiver. The playfair cipher[1] was
the first literal digraph substitution cipher. It was
introduced for first time in 1854 by Charles
wheatstone, but bears the name of Lord Playfair who
promoted the use of the cipher. The first recorded
description of the Playfair cipher [2] was in a
document signed by Wheatstone on 26 March 1854.
It was used by the British in the Second Boer War
and in World War I. It was also used by the
Australians and Germans during World War II.
Playfair is reasonably easy to use and was used to
handle important but non-critical secrets. The
technique encrypts [3] pairs of letters (digraphs),
instead of single letters as in the simple substitution
cipher. The Play fair cipher uses a 5 by 5 table
containing a key word or phrase. Memorization of
the keyword and 4 simple rules was all that was
required to create the 5 by 5 table and use the cipher.
In this paper we want to extend the table of
traditional playfair cipher which is 5x5 to 13x13 so
that we could place upper case letters of English as
well as lower case letters and some special
use the cipher of round one as a key of round two
and so on. The basic encryption rules of playfair
cipher will be used for encryption and decryption of
message.
2. Literature Review
2.1. Traditional Playfair Cipher [4]
Traditional playfair cipher is the most popular poly-
alphabetic and substitution cipher. We will describe it
in a little bit detail because it is the base for its
different variations so we have to understand it
completely and we also analyze its merits and
demerits.
Traditional playfair Cipher uses a 5x5 table to
convert the plain text into Cipher Text in which
secret key alphabets are placed in first row from left
to right after that remaining English alphabets (only
capital) are placed. For example our key is
“CRYPTO” then the table would look like as below
In the above table we can see that alphabet I/J is
placed in same box and counted as one character.
Basic Rules:
 There should be no repetition of letters in
key
 The message is divided into chunks of two
letters.
 If there exist same letter consecutively then
place “X” between them.
 Ignore all the spaces
Encryption Rules:
For encryption insert each pair into a separate table.
There may be three scenarios of each table.
a. If the pair exist in same column then take
the letter one place down to it in place of
each alphabet. If it is on the top or bottom
then wrap around.
b. If the pair exist in same row then take the
letter one place right to it in place of each
alphabet. Upon reaching the end, wrap
around.
c. If the pair forms a rectangle swap the
letters with the ones on the end of the
rectangle.
Decryption Rules:
For decryption we do the reverse of encryption rules.
Limitations of traditional playfair cipher:
Most basic disadvantage or limitation of this cipher
is that it has a 5x5 matrix which can only
accommodate 25 upper case letters of English. It is
unable to encrypt lower case letters, it also unable to
handle special characters and numbers and the
another important disadvantage is that while
decrypting one may confuse decrypting letters I/J
because both are in the same box.
2.2. An Extension to Traditional Playfair
Cryptographic Method by Ravindra Babu K, S.
Uday Kumar, A. Vinay Babu, I.V.N.S Aditya , P.
Komuraiah [5]
Proposed an advancement of playfair cipher by
replacing the table of 5x5 to 6x6. Although, this
proposed method makes some improvements in
traditional playfair cipher but it has still some
legacies. We will giving a short explanation of these
merits and demerits here. The table for this new
playfair cipher is given below
Merits:
 First of all this cipher can handle numerical
values from 0-9 which is an improvement to
the traditional playfair cipher.
 Secondly it is placing “I” and “J” in
different blocks so it reduces the ambiguity.
Demerits:
 In the proposed method there is no way to
handle lower case letters, white spaces and
special characters.
 There is no work done on improvement of
secrecy of key.
2.3. A Novel Approach to Security using Extended
Playfair Cipher by Shiv Shakti Srivastava and Nitin
Gupta [6]
 3

Proposed an advancement of playfair cipher in which

the 5 by 5 matrix is replaced by an 8 by 8 matrix to
accommodate all the uppercase alphabets as well as
numeric digits and few symbols.
In this [3] approach they suggested converting the
cipher text to their respective ASCII values and
perform LFSR on its 7 bit binary equivalent to obtain
final cipher text. The table of this cipher is as below
Demerits:
 By including the white space the cipher
becomes weak as it becomes easier for the
cryptanalyst to decipher the cipher text.
2.5. 3D (4 X 4 X 4) - Playfair Cipher by Amandeep
Kaur, Harsh Kumar Verma, Ravindra Kumar
Singh[8]
Works on tri-graph rather than using digraph which
eliminates the fact that a diagram and its reverse will
encrypt in a similar fashion. 3D-Playfair cipher
supports all 26 alphabets {A-Z}, 10 digits {0-9} and
28 special characters {! “ # $ % & ‘ ( ) * + , - . / : ; <
= > ? @ [\] ^ _ |} which eliminate the limitation of
classical Playfair in which “i” and “j” both character
cannot appear at the same time. The table matrix is
given below

Merits:
 The proposed algorithm is dealing both
alphabetic as well as numeric letters.
 The algorithm also handling white spaces
and few special characters.
Demerits: A B C D E F G H I J K L M
 The proposed cipher is not capable to deal N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
with lower case alphabets. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 a b c
 The LFSR is a time consuming process and d e f g h i j k l m n o p
the cipher does not remains time efficient.
q r s t u v w x y z \ , .
2.4. Modified Playfair Cipher using Rectangular ; : ‘ “ / ? [ ] { } ( ) -
Matrix by Sanjay Basu and Uptal Kumar Ray [7] _ = + * & ^ % $ # @ ! > <
Proposed an advancement of playfair cipher in which
the 5 by 5 matrix is replaced by a 10 by 9 matrix to
accommodate all the uppercase alphabets, lowercase
alphabets, numeric digits, other symbols as well as
white space. The table of this proposed cipher is as
given

3. OUR PROPOSAL
Renovated Playfair Cipher

7x13 Renovated Playfair Cipher Matric

Merits:
 This Modified playfair cipher accommodate
all the upper and lower case letters and as
well as numerical values.
 It also handles white spaces and few special
characters as well
Table
Renovated Playfair Cipher have 7x13 matric
which is accommodate all the Uppercase alphabets,
Lowercase alphabets, Numeric 0 to 9 and Special
characters.
Modified playfair cipher accommodates white space
in his matric table that is the demerits of Modified
playfair cipher. But renovated Playfair Cipher
excludes the white space and add some other special
characters.

i A g t U o B . A C D E F
G H I J K L M N O P Q R S
T V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 b c d e f h j k l m
n P q r s u v w x y z \ ,
; : ‘ “ / ? [ ] { } ( ) -
_ = + * & ^ % $ # @ ! > <

3.1. How to work Renovated Playfair

Ciphar

3.1.1. Encryption

Renovated Playfair Cipher convert the plain text

in to cipher text in N of rounds according to plain H G 9 F B a q i A C D E G
text size. I J K L M N O P Q R S T U
In first round the 64bits key place in 7x13 matric V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
as well as Traditional Playfair Cipher then the plain 8 B c d e f h j k l m n o
text convert into cipher text.
p R s t u v w x y z \ , .
Second round the key take the first round cipher
text first 64bit as a key place in 7x13 matric table ; : ‘ “ / ? [ ] { } ( ) -
and this time convert the first cipher text into the _ = + * & ^ % $ # @ ! > <
second cipher text.
In third round the second round cipher text second
64bits are used as a key and place the second 64bits
in 7x13 matric table to convert the second cipher text
into cipher text again.
These rounds continued N time as well as above
rounds according to plain text size.
 5

Encryption Block Diagram of Renovated Playfair

Ciphar

Note if the N cipher does not have N 64bit

completely so use the N bits as a key and place in
7x13 matric table to convert the N cipher text into
last cipher text.

Plain text: I am going to University of Baltistan.

Key: iagtUoB.

First cipher text

Hg 9F Ba qi UB is Bn bv nU Cr .d .g bE Un Ug
wi
We use first 8 character of first Cipher text as a
key next round
So our key is
Key: Hg9FBaqi
7x13 matric place for second round

Second cipher text

g9 FB aq iA MG qx Ee fr oT gz to rG ng To xq
Now select the next key for the third round. We
select the next 8 characters as a key for third round
Key: MGqxEefr
7x13 matric place for third round

M G q x E e f r A B C D F
H I J K L N O P Q R S T U
V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 a b c d g h i j k l m
n o p s t u v w y z \ , .
; : ‘ “ / ? [ ] { } ( ) -
_ = + * & ^ % $ # @ ! > <
 Third cipher text
ha MC pJ yQ Gq xE ef rA ,I ju up Aq v8 I, Ex
Now select the next key for the fourth round. We
select the next 8 characters as a key for fourth round
Key: ,IjuupAq
7x13 matric place for fourth round
As well as traditional playfair cipher the method
of decryption Renovated Playfair Cipher is same the
last N key use in decryption as first key and the N-1
key use as a second key for decryption in the end the
original key use for decryption and gets the Pain text.

, I j u p A q B C D E F G
H J K L M N O P Q R S T U
V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 a b c d e f g h i k l
m n o r s t v w x y z \ .
; : ‘ “ / ? [ ] { } ( ) -
_ = + * & ^ % $ # @ ! > <
Fourth cipher text
ib Qp IM xR CU zC fg tu Ij up pA qB me jI Cz
Now select the next key for the fifth round. We select
the next 8 characters as a key for fourth round
Key: mejICz

7x13 matric place for fifth round

Final Cipher text

m e j I C z A B D E F G H
J K L M N O P Q R S T U V
W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 a b c d f g h i k l n o
p q r s t u v w x y \ , .
; : ‘ “ / ? [ ] { } ( ) -
_ = + * & ^ % $ # @ ! > < Decryption Block Diagram of Renovated Playfair
Ciphar
kcJwMZ{4GNAzghuvCIvqvmweejICzA

Cipher text
kcJwMZ{4GNAzghuvCIvqvmweejICzA
N Key: mejICz

m e j I C z A B D E F G H
J K L M N O P Q R S T U V
W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 a b c d f g h i k l n o
p q r s t u v w x y \ , .
; : ‘ “ / ? [ ] { } ( ) -
_ = + * & ^ % $ # @ ! > <

3.1.2. Decryption First decryption cipher text

 7

ib Qp IM xR CU zC fg tu Ij up pA qB me jI Cz
Fifth Plain text:
N-1 Key: ,IjuupAq IamgoingtoUniversityofBaltistan.

Second decryption cipher text

ha MC pJ yQ Gq xE ef rA ,I ju up Aq v8 I, Ex
N-2 Key: MGqxEefr
i a g t U o B . A C D E F
, I j u p A q B C D E F G
G H I J K L M N O P Q R S
H J K L M N O P Q R S T U T V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7 8 9 b c d e f h j k l m
8 9 a b c d e f g h i k l n p q r s u v w x y z \ ,
m n o r s t v w x y z \ .
; : ‘ “ / ? [ ] { } ( ) -
; : ‘ “ / ? [ ] { } ( ) - _ = + * & ^ % $ # @ ! > <
_ = + * & ^ % $ # @ ! > <
Third decryption cipher text
g9 FB aq iA MG qx Ee fr oT gz to rG ng To xq END
N-3 Key: Hg9FBaqi

M G q x E e f r A B C D F
H I J K L N O P Q R S T U
V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 a b c d g h i j k l m
n o p s t u v w y z \ , .
; : ‘ “ / ? [ ] { } ( ) -
_ = + * & ^ % $ # @ ! > <

H g 9 F B a q i A C D E G
I J K L M N O P Q R S T U
V W X Y Z 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 b c d e f h j k l m n o
p r s t u v w x y z \ , .
; : ‘ “ / ? [ ] { } ( ) -
_ = + * & ^ % $ # @ ! > <

Fourth decryption cipher text

Hg 9F Ba qi UB is Bn bv nU Cr .d .g bE Un Ug wi
Key: iagtUoB.
References
[1] Behrouz A. Forouzan, Cryptography and Network
Security. Special Indian Edition 2007, Tata McGrawHill
Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi.

[2] Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playfair_cipher)

[3] C Nisarga Chand, Subhajit Bhattacharyya “A Novel

Approach for Encryption of Text Messages Using PLAY
-FAIR Cipher 6 by 6 Matrix with Four Iteration Steps”.

[4] Traditional Playfair Cipher

[5] An Extension to Traditional Playfair Cryptographic

Method by Ravindra Babu K, S. Uday Kumar, A. Vinay
Babu, I.V.N.S Aditya , P. Komuraiah

[6] A Novel Approach to Security using Extended

Playfair Cipher by Shiv Shakti Srivastava and Nitin
Gupta

[7] Modified Playfair Cipher using Rectangular

Matrix by Sanjay Basu and Uptal Kumar Ray

[8] 3D (4 X 4 X 4) - Playfair Cipher by Amandeep

Kaur, Harsh Kumar Verma, Ravindra Kumar Singh