SCI 1301

Learning Module 7 Assignment 14: Encryption

1. Hack the Password. Go to the website and try out your password to see how strong it is.
This site assumes 200 guesses/second, i.e., an online attack. Take a screenshot of
your results (not your password, though). Report what you thought of this site and if
you are going to make any changes to the way you use your computer.
- I think that this website is a GREAT tool that I wasn’t even aware existed. The
moment that I saw this I immediately went back my password as it is one that I
use pretty often. It did sadden me because I thought that I had a great password.

2. Caesar Cipher. Using the Black Chamber website, decipher the text below:

LZAK AK S LWKL GX LZW USWKSJ KZAXL UAHZWJ HDWSKW LWDD EW OZSL

LZAK EWKKSYW KSQK

ANSWER: this is a test of the caesar shift cipher please tell me what this
message says

2. Vignere Square Tool Cipher. Same as above. Tell me what the message below says: In
the Insert Keyword Here box type in UTEPMINERS, that's the way the cipher
alphabet is created. Describe how the cipher text was created and how the cipher
text was changed back into plain text.
- The plain text was: universityoftexasatelpasominersrulez.
- How? The way that this is done is by using the keyword and writing it over and
over the plain text, then you would see where the first letter of the plaintext
(used as the column) intersects with the row starting with the first letter of the
keyword. In order to do it backwards you would go where the row starts with U
(for utepminers), go down the row until you see the O, then up the column and
that would be your first letter (which in this case was U as well), then you would
continue the same process for the rest of the letters.

OGMKQZFMKQIYXTJIFEKWFIEHAUVRVJMKYAQH
SCI 1301
Learning Module 7 Assignment 14: Encryption
4. XOR Encryption: The following is an XOR encryption of a word made up of seven
characters. XOR is a bitwise operator from binary mathematics.
• The XOR operator returns a 1 when the value of either the first bit or the second
bit is a 1.
• The XOR operator returns a 0 when neither or both the bits are 1.
• This is best illustrated in the provided chart.

The cipher text of the word is a follows:

00010000

00011011

00010110

00000111

00001100

00000101

00000001

The key is: 01010101

Set up a table (or use graph paper, or a spreadsheet) similar to the provided
chart. In the First Bit column copy in the numbers from above. The Key goes in
the Second Bit column. Use the provided table to determine your Results. There
are 7 letters, so you should have 7 tables.

Once you have the Results, you still have to decrypt the message by using the
ASCII to binary conversion chart website. Determine what letter each 8-bit string
stand for. I found it very helpful to just copy the Results and paste into the
Search (Command F on Macs) to quickly find the sequence.

ANSWER: ENCRYPT

5. Cryptanalysis: Decrypt the following message. I'm not going to give you the key,
but I will give you a clue, the letters are shifted. Described how you approached
the problem.

UIJT JT B TFDSFU NFTTBHF

ANSWER: this is a secret message
SCI 1301
Learning Module 7 Assignment 14: Encryption
The way I went about this was by using the Caesar Cipher because that was the
only one that didn’t require a keyword and shifts over the alphabet. Once
there, I simply created a shift in the letters of ONE and it quickly deciphered
the message.