INFORMATION SECURITY

VIGENERE CIPHER

BY:
SOWMYAPRABHA VS
1731049
Vigenere Cipher

 Vigenere Cipher is a method of encrypting alphabetic text.

 It uses a simple form of polyalphabetic substitution.
 A polyalphabetic cipher is any cipher based on substitution, using
multiple substitution alphabets.
 The encryption of the original text is done using two methods:
 Vigenere Square or Vigenere Table
 Vigenere Formula
 Method 1

 When the vigenere table is given, the encryption

and decryption are done using the vigenere table
(26 * 26 matrix)
 The first row of this table has the 26 English
letters.
 Starting with the second row, each row has the
letters shifted to the left one position in a cyclic
way.
 For example, when B is shifted to the first
position on the second row, the letter A moves to
the end.
 Method 1

Encryption
• To encrypt, pick a letter in the plaintext and
its corresponding letter in the keyword
• Use the keyword letter as the row index and
the plaintext letter column index
• The entry at the row-column intersection is
the letter in the ciphertext.
Example
• Plaintext - MICHIGAN
• Keyword - HOUGHTON
• Encrypted word – TWWNPZOA
 Method 1

Decryption
First, select the row of the key letter, find
the ciphertext letter's position in that row,
and then select the column label of the
corresponding ciphertext as the plaintext.
Example
• Keyword - HOUGHTON
• Encrypted word – TWWNPZOA
• Plaintext - MICHIGAN
Method 2

 When the vigenere table is not given, the encryption and decryption are done
by Vigenar algebraically formula in this method (convert the letters (A-Z) into
the numbers (0-25)).

Encryption
• E = (P + K ) mod 26
i i i

Decryption
• D = (E - K + 26) mod 26
i i i
Disadvantages of Vigenere Cipher

 Major disadvantage of Vigenere cipher is repeating nature of it's keys.

 If a cryptanalyst correctly guesses the key's length, the cipher text can be treated as
interwoven Caesar ciphers, which can easily be broken individually. 
 The periodic nature of the keyword can be eliminated by using a nonrepeating keyword that is as
long as the message itself.
 This is referred as an autokey system, in which a keyword is concatenated with the plaintext
itself to provide a running key. For our example,
key: deceptivewearediscoveredsav
plaintext: wearediscoveredsaveyourself
ciphertext: ZICVTWQNGKZEIIGASXSTSLVVWLA
 The ultimate defense against such a cryptanalysis is to choose a keyword that is as long as the
plaintext.