Codebusters Master Study Guide:

● Atbash Cipher:
○ Flips letters across alphabet about the midline M/N
A B C D E F G H I J K L M

Z Y X W V U T S R Q P O N

● Caesar Cipher:
○ Shifts letters by a key constant
○ (key​ 7​):
A E R I A L

+7 +7 +7 +7 +7 +7

H L Y P H S

● Mono-Alphabetic Substitution
○ Fixed substitution of the alphabet
○ Can be random or have a keyword:
■ K1 alphabet: ​plaintext row contains keyword(s)​, with remaining letters filled in in
ascending order
1.
V X Y Z B R O WN I E S A C D F G H J K L M P Q T U

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V WX Y Z
■ K2 alphabet: ​ciphertext row contains keyword(s)​, with remaining letters filled in in
ascending order
○
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V WX Y Z

T U V X Y Z B R O WN I E S A C D F G H J K L M P Q
■ Random alphabet: completely random - GOOD LUCK!!!

● Affine Cipher
○ Encryption in the form: Ct = A(Pt) + B
○ Decryption in the form: Pt = C(Ct - B)
■ Has keys “​A​” and “​B​”

● Vigenere Cipher
○ Letters are shifted by the numerical values of a repeated keyword
○ (keyword: ​COLOR​ = 2, 14, 11, 14, 17)
 R A N D O M P L A I N T E X T

C O L O R C O L O R C O L O R
(+2) (+14) (+11) (+14) (+17) (+2) (+14) (+11) (+14) (+17) (+2) (+14) (+11) (+14) (+17)

T O Y R F O D W O Z P H P L K
● Baconian
○ Uses baconian alphabet to encode letters; IJ and UV are commonly together, though,
sometimes they could not be

■
● Hill Cipher
○ Encodes and decodes messages by multiplying the keyword by the text in matrix form
■ Decryption matrix given encryption matrix:
1. Find determinant inverse: (AD-BC)​-1​ mod 26
2. Invert keyword matrix: [ D -B]
[-C A]
-1​
3. Multiply determinant inverse by matrix inverse: ​D​ [ D -B]
[-C A]
■ Decryption matrix given 4 sets of plaintext/ciphertext pairs
● Arrange in linear equations and solve for A, B, C, and D
○ Pt1 = A(Ct1) + B(Ct2) Pt2 = C(Ct1) + B(Ct2)
○ Pt3 = A(Ct3) + B(Ct4) Pt4 = C(Ct3) + B(Ct4)
 http://www.cryptogram.org/
American Cryptogram Illuminati

Title Example/Image Identification notes Solution Notes General Notes

Atbash Cipher -Try swapping a few -Swap letters across -Each letter is
(English) letters and see if it the alphabet replaced by the letter
​Very simple makes a word -(centered on M=N exactly opposite it in
​Optional -Subject to and N=M) the alphabet,
memorization of the frequency analysis *A-Z=Z-A
wheel

Difficulty: 1
-​Julie

Xenocrypt (​up to 1 ----------------- -can be subject to ---------- Any of the other

in Spanish​) frequency analysis​, types of ciphers can
knowing the be in spanish
Difficulty: 2 frequencies of
-Julie Spanish letters

Mathematical 2x2 Encryption: -a number of Encryption: -Elements:

1.Pick a keyword and
Cryptanalysis ​of the characters divisible convert into a matrix (left
● Dimensions
Hill Cipher by 2 or 3 to right) (2x2 or 3x3)
​Involves -no spaces(?) ● Keyword to
knowledge of convert to
multiplying matrices 2.Convert alphabetic first matrix
matrix into numeric
​Optional http://stat.math.uregi matrix ● Plaintext to
memorization of na.ca/~kozdron/Tea convert into
each letter’s numeric ching/Regina/124Wi second
equivalent nter09/Handouts/hill. 3.Pick plaintext and split matrix
pdf into digraphs or trigraphs, -producing a
depending on key (top to
Difficulty: 5 Final Text: bottom) decryption matrix
-Julie APADJTFTWLFJ http://web.williams.e given a 2x2
du/Mathematics/sjmil encryption matrix
4.Turn alphabetic
ler/public_html/huds plaintext into numeric
on/TaylorR_HillCiph again
er.pdf -computing a
5.Multiply the key matrix decryption matrix
by each column vector given 4
plaintext-ciphertext
letter pairs
6.Divide each # by ​mod
26​ and keep the
remainder

7.Re-
Alphabetize
Title Example/Image Identification Solution General Notes
Notes Notes

Caesar Cipher/Shift -Pick a group of Shift every Each letter is

Cipher letters and count letter by the shifted a certain
​ Very simple them back by magic number of
one at a time number letters,
until a word it A+7=H, A+2=C
Difficulty: 2 formed -Just need the
-Andrew -Subject to number to shift
frequency it
analysis

Vigenere Cipher Will be given an -You need -Basically a

(​Encryption and alphabetical key to know Caesar Cipher
Decryption only, and an what value whose key is
given key​) alphabetical each letter another Caesar
plaintext |(or in the Cipher
Compounded, but ciphertext) alphabet is -You shift every
simple Could be one letter by the
​Optional word, just use -generally value of its
memorization of each the word over A=0, corresponding
letter’s numeric and over Z=25 letter in the key
equivalent

Difficulty: 3
-Jorts

Baconian Cipher (​and VERY obvious, Learn the -Alphabet

variants​)​, ​simple once only two language, binary, every
mastered characters or or find a letter is
numbers make rule for the renamed with a
Difficulty: 4 up the message language 5-letter
-Gawith sequence of A’s
and B’s
A=AAAAA,
Z=BABBB
Sometimes there are variations on
how to get As and Bs, like evens
are As and odds are Bs
Title Example/Image Identification Solution Notes General Notes
Notes

Affine Cipher -Subject to Decryption: Following the

(​Encryption frequency requires equation:
only​) analysis knowing A, B, Y = Ax + B
and the given A and B are the
Mathematical alphabet keys, and x
Analysis, corresponds to the
Hard to numerical
guess key but equivalents of each
easy to encrypt of the alphabet
and decrypt letters. If Y is
​Optional greater than 26,
memorization take the mod of it to
of each letter’s find the letter.
numeric
equivalent

Difficulty: 1
-Daanish

Mono-alphabeti A, B, C, D, E, F, G -​Subject to -Every letter is

c Substitution O, L, R, E, H, A, S frequency replaced by
analysis another letter or
Difficulty: 4 symbol in an
-Daanish alphabet
-Aristocrat: spaces
and punctuation
are still in after
encryption,
Patristocrat: no
spaces are
punctuation
*​For aristocrats
and patristocrats
(and xenocrypts),
no letter can ever
encrypt to itself!!
*The first question
will be a timed
decoding of a
mono-alphabetic
substitution
cryptogram! ​(see
rules for more
info)
Quick Definitions:
Cryptogram: a text written in code
Plaintext: original/decoded text
Ciphertext: encoded text

*A=0, B=1,...
○