AY Honors/Cryptography/Answer Key - Revision history

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RABaker96 at 00:14, 7 July 2025

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RABaker96 at 13:54, 8 June 2025

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 b. Hebrew Atbash cipher, 500 BC
-The Abash cipher is a simple substitution cipher, reversing the order of the alphabet (the name is actually the first two and last two letters of the Hebrew alphabet). Hebrew has 22 letters, and using this cipher you replace the first with last, the second with second to last, etc. If we were to use the English alphabet (26 letters), A=Z, B=Y, C=X, D=W and so on. It is a simple cipher, making it useful but easy to crack.
+The Atbash cipher is a simple substitution cipher, reversing the order of the alphabet (the name is actually the first two and last two letters of the Hebrew alphabet). Hebrew has 22 letters, and using this cipher you replace the first with last, the second with second to last, etc. If we were to use the English alphabet (26 letters), A=Z, B=Y, C=X, D=W and so on. It is a simple cipher, making it useful but easy to crack.
-It is believed that there is a use of the Abash cipher in the book of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 25:26 and 51:41, there is a mention of “Sheshach,” written right to left using the letters shin shin kaf. If an Abash cipher is applied, these would be replaced by bet bet lamed, the Hebrew word for Babel (or Babylon). Thus it is believed that here Jeremiah is referring to Babylon, not some unknown city or country of “Sheshach.”
+It is believed that there is a use of the Atbash cipher in the book of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 25:26 and 51:41, there is a mention of “Sheshach,” written right to left using the letters shin shin kaf. If an Atbash cipher is applied, these would be replaced by bet bet lamed, the Hebrew word for Babel (or Babylon). Thus it is believed that here Jeremiah is referring to Babylon, not some unknown city or country of “Sheshach.”
-See 2b for an Abash Cipher in action
+See 2b for an Atbash Cipher in action
 c. Julius Caesar's substitution cipher, 100 BC

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 Egyptian hieroglyphs are not really a code or a cipher, they are a form of written language. Hieroglyphs are symbols that may be phonograms (represent a sound), Ideograms (represent a word), or determinatives (provide context for the other hieroglyphs in a message). There are three types of phonograms - unilaterals (the symbol represents a single sound), bilaterals (representing a double sound, such as “pr”), and trilaterals (representing three sounds combined, such as “mwt”).
-Hieroglyph words could be written right to left, left to right, top to bottom, and at times a bit of horizontal and vertical combined, depending upon how we. It fit within the physical context (thus the writing often was as much art as communication). Vowels were generally excluded (most common transliterations just toss an “e” between each consonant), and the exact pronunciation remains somewhat uncertain. Writing your name or some other message, then, may include first stripping out the vowels before encoding into hieroglyphs. You will often see people’s names enclosed in an oval, making them easier to spot. Hieroglyphs could be carved, painted, or both.
+Hieroglyph words could be written right to left, left to right, top to bottom, and at times a bit of horizontal and vertical combined, depending upon how well it fit within the physical context (thus the writing often was as much art as communication). Vowels were generally excluded (most common transliterations just toss an “e” between each consonant), and the exact pronunciation remains somewhat uncertain. Writing your name or some other message, then, may include first stripping out the vowels before encoding into hieroglyphs. You will often see people’s names enclosed in an oval, making them easier to spot. Hieroglyphs could be carved, painted, or both.
 [[File:The Rosetta Stone.jpg|frame|The Rosetta Stone, on display at the British Museum]]

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	Steganography is the process of hiding data/information inside other data, for example hiding textual information in an image file, subtly changing fonts, or using invisible ink.		Steganography is the process of hiding data/information inside other data, for example hiding textual information in an image file, subtly changing fonts, or using invisible ink.
		+
		+	A simple two-part invisible ink can be created with things you likely already have in your house. The ink is made from a mixture of 1TBSP Baking Soda mixed in 1/2C water. Write the message with this ink on the paper. When first trying it out, use cotton swabs, but later you can experiment with finer brushes. Once the message is written, allow the paper to dry.
		+
		+	[[File:Ink1.jpg\|frame\|center\|Making the Invisible Ink]]
		+	[[File:Ink2.jpg\|frame\|center\|Write the message and allow to dry]]
		+
		+	To reveal the invisible message, mix 1tsp turmeric with 1/2c rubbing alcohol to make the reagent. Then paint the reagent over the paper. Be careful, as it is easy to stain your fingers and the table a lovely yellow.
		+
		+	[[File:Ink3.jpg\|frame\|center\|Mix the reagent.]]
		+	[[File:Ink4.jpg\|frame\|center\|Use the reagent to reveal the message]]

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 In the image here, we have also color coded to see. So PA = BN, TH = QC, FI = EG, ND = KR, ER = AU. We would then send the encoded message (Pathfinder) as BNQCEGKRAU
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 <noinclude></translate></noinclude>
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 </noinclude>
 <!-- 4. Investigate whether each item in the list below is a code, a cipher, steganography, or a plain text message. -->
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 [[File:Hieroglyphs from Stela of Ity.jpg|frame|A selection of hieroglyphs from the Stela of Ity, on display at the British Museum]]
 [[File:Selection from Stela of Semty Junior.jpg|frame|Hieroglyphs from the stela of Semty Junior, on display at the British Museum]]
 Egyptian hieroglyphs are not really a code or a cipher, they are a form of written language. Hieroglyphs are symbols that may be phonograms (represent a sound), Ideograms (represent a word), or determinatives (provide context for the other hieroglyphs in a message). There are three types of phonograms - unilaterals (the symbol represents a single sound), bilaterals (representing a double sound, such as “pr”), and trilaterals (representing three sounds combined, such as “mwt”).

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 </noinclude>
 <!-- 5. Classical cryptology is the study of codes and ciphers used in the past. Discover how the following cryptographic forms were encoded in antiquity, and try to duplicate their processes to record a message: -->
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 The Caesar cipher is a relatively simple cipher, with the coded text just shifting the letter a certain number of spaces left or right along the alphabet. If we have 26 letters in the alphabet, it means we can shift the alphabet 25 different ways right and 25 different ways left. A "right +2" Caesar cipher would move each letter two spaces to the right, so "A" would be encoded as "C," "B" would be "D" and so on, until "Y" wrapped around to "A" and "Z" wrapped around to be encoded as "B."
-Here is a right +12 Caesar cipher (12 for the number of disciples). You can use a code phrase or some other way to signify the shift (though Caesar ciphers are relatively simple to break using brute force approaches and basic logic of language).
+Here is a left +12 Caesar cipher (12 for the number of disciples). You can use a code phrase or some other way to signify the shift (though Caesar ciphers are relatively simple to break using brute force approaches and basic logic of language).
 [[File:Plus 12 Caesar Cipher.png|frame|center]]
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 [[File:Plain text of Pathfinder Law.png|frame|center]]
-Now we encode the letters using our right +12 Caesar cipher
+Now we encode the letters using our left +12 Caesar cipher
 [[File:Encoding the Pathfinder Law.png|frame|center]]

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 <!-- 8. Choose a cipher to encrypt a favorite Bible text and let another person decrypt it. Be sure to give that person the type of cipher and the key used. -->
-You have plenty of choices for this one. Here is an example of using a columnar transposition cipher (with a key) to encode our message. In this form of cipher, we write our plain text in a grid horizontally, and write our cipher text by reading the columns vertically. But the twist is the key. Before writing our text, we write the key word across our grid. This determines how many rows we will have. The rows are then written as the cipher text based on the alphabetical order of the letters in the key word - so the first column isn't necessarily the first column we will write. If there are two of the same letter in the key word, the first appearance comes first in numbering the columns.
+You have plenty of choices for this one.
 So here is the way to encrypt using this method. Our plain text comes from the book of Psalm. Here we have converted the numbers to words so we do not need to worry about having numbers mixed with out letters.
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 [[File:Plain Text Psalm to encode.png|frame|center]]
-Our keyword is SHEPHARD. It has 8 letters, so we will have 8 columns in our grid. When we encode, we will begin with the column beneath the letter "A," then the column beneath the letter "d," then "e," then the first "H," then the second "H" and so on. So here is the verse written out in our grid.
+Our keyword is SHEPHARD. Yes, it is spelled like a person's name, not the job with sheep. Using similar sounding words can add to the complexity if someone overhears the key word. The keyword should be sent (or pre-arranged) separately from the cipher text. Perhaps you can use steganography to hide the key word. So, our key, shephard, has 8 letters, so we will have 8 columns in our grid. When we encode, we will begin with the column beneath the letter "A," then the column beneath the letter "d," then "e," then the first "H," then the second "H" and so on. So here is the verse written out in our grid.
 [[File:Cipher psalm.png|frame|center]]

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 For example, if we see a traffic light, each color represents a word or phrase, with a specific meaning: red=stop, amber=caution, green=go. The color denotes a word, and is thus a code. At sea, ships may use flags and pennants as part of the International Code of Signals, each flag representing a letter, number, word, or phrase.
-[[File:Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International Code of Signals|frame|center]]
+[[File:ICS-flags.png|frame|center]]
 In wartime and in secret government communications, code words may be used to obfuscate the actual meaning. During World War II, for example, the U.S. Navy used code words to represent locations or activities, so if the message was intercepted, the enemy would not know what or where they were talking about.
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 </noinclude>
-A Cipher encrypts a message at the level of individual or small groups of letters, rather than replacing entire words. A simple classic cipher is the Caesar cipher, where the alphabet is shifted a certain number of spaces to encode and decode the message. The example below is a Caesar cipher with a key of 3 (ie each letter is shifted 3 places).
+A Cipher encrypts a message at the level of individual or small groups of letters, rather than replacing entire words. It is created (and solved) using an algorithm. A simple classic cipher, for example, is the Caesar cipher, where the alphabet is shifted a certain number of spaces to encode and decode the message. The example below is a Caesar cipher with a key of 3 (ie each letter is shifted 3 places). The algorithm could be written as (P)+X=(C), where "P" means the plain text letter, and "C" means the new cipher text letter, and "X" is the number of spaces to shift the letter. A 3 shift Caesar cipher, as below, adds 23 places (26 letters in the alphabet -3 shifted spaces) to get us our encoding, but we "subtract" three letters from the encoded message to solve for the original.
 [[File:A 3 key Caesar cipher.png|frame|center]]
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 Using this cipher, we could encode the word "Companion" as xlnkzmrlm, the word "Guide" as tfrwv
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 </noinclude>
-Steganography is the process of hiding data/information inside other data, for example hiding textual information in an image file
+Steganography is the process of hiding data/information inside other data, for example hiding textual information in an image file, subtly changing fonts, or using invisible ink.
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 </noinclude>
-Plain Text refers to the unecrypted information prior to encoding
+Plain Text refers to the unencrypted information prior to encoding
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 </noinclude>
-A key is the information necessary to encrypt and decrypt a particular message
+A key is the information necessary to encrypt and decrypt a particular message. In a Caesar cipher, it is the number of letters to shift.
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 </noinclude>
-A public key is part of a two-key encryption/decryption model, where one key is private, and another is publicly available. Public Key Cryptography is also called Asymmetric Cryptography
+A public key is part of a two-key encryption/decryption model, where one key is private, and another is publicly available. Public Key Cryptography is also called Asymmetric Cryptography, and is a way of transmitting secure messages via the internet/email, where even if intercepted the message cannot be decrypted.
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 </noinclude>
-A one way function is a model of encrypting information where it is relatively easy to convert the data one way, but much more difficult to reverse the process. In some computer applications, this one way function results in a hash value, allowing secure storage of sensitive information or passwords.
+A one way function is a model of encrypting information where it is relatively easy to convert the data one way, but much more difficult to reverse the process. In some computer applications, this one way function results in a hash value, allowing secure storage of sensitive information or passwords. If someone breaks into the database, they can only recover the hash value, which obscures the original information.
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 </noinclude>
-In a code, words or phrases are encrypted (as opposed to individual letters). During World War II, for example, the U.S. Navy used code words to represent locations or activities, so if the message was intercepted, the enemy would not know what or where they were talking about.
+Codes use symbols to replace the original message. These may include images, numbers, colors, etc. In many codes, the entire word can be represented by a symbol or another word.
 For example, the word "BALSA" in a message meant "Midway Island," "WOODBANK" meant "Paris, France," and "RANCID" translated to "Greenland."