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U1 Classical Cryptography

Classical cryptography includes symmetric encryption where a shared key is used for encryption and decryption, and classical ciphers like the Caesar cipher which shifts letters by a number of positions, and the monoalphabetic cipher which substitutes each letter for a different letter. The one-time pad cipher is considered unbreakable if a truly random key as long as the message is used, but has issues with key distribution. Transposition ciphers like the rail fence cipher and row transposition ciphers rearrange the positions of letters in the plaintext but do not replace letters.

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77 views

U1 Classical Cryptography

Classical cryptography includes symmetric encryption where a shared key is used for encryption and decryption, and classical ciphers like the Caesar cipher which shifts letters by a number of positions, and the monoalphabetic cipher which substitutes each letter for a different letter. The one-time pad cipher is considered unbreakable if a truly random key as long as the message is used, but has issues with key distribution. Transposition ciphers like the rail fence cipher and row transposition ciphers rearrange the positions of letters in the plaintext but do not replace letters.

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Djsjsb
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Classical Cryptography

Symmetric
Encryption
• or conventional / private-key / single-key
• sender and recipient share a common key
• all classical encryption algorithms are
private-key
• was only type prior to invention of public-
key in 1970’s

Basic Terminology
• plaintext - the original message
• ciphertext - the coded message
• cipher - algorithm for transforming plaintext to
ciphertext
• key - info used in cipher known only to
sender/receiver
• encipher (encrypt) - converting plaintext to
ciphertext
• decipher (decrypt) - recovering ciphertext
from plaintext
• cryptography - study of encryption
principles/methods
• cryptanalysis (codebreaking) - the study of

principles/ methods of deciphering ciphertext

without knowing key


• cryptology - the field of both cryptography

and cryptanalysis
Symmetric Cipher
Model
Requirements
• two requirements for secure use of
symmetric encryption:
o a strong encryption algorithm o a secret key known only to
sender / receiver

Y = EK(X) X = DK(Y)

• assume encryption algorithm is known


• implies a secure channel to distribute key

Cryptography
• can characterize by:
o type of encryption operations used
• substitution / transposition / product o number of keys used
• single-key or private / two-key or public o way in which plaintext
is processed
• block / stream

Classical
Substitution

Ciphers
• where letters of plaintext are replaced by
other letters or by numbers or symbols
• or if plaintext is viewed as a sequence of
bits, then substitution involves replacing
plaintext bit patterns with ciphertext bit
patterns
Caesar Cipher
• earliest known substitution cipher
• by Julius Caesar
• first attested use in military affairs
• replaces each letter by 3rd letter on
• example:
meet me after the toga party PHHW PH DIWHU WKH WRJD
SDUWB

Caesar Cipher
• can define transformation as:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABC

• mathematically give each letter a number


a b c d e f g h i j k l m 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 n o p q r
s t u v w x y Z 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

• then have Caesar cipher as:


C = E(p) = (p + k) mod (26) p = D(C) = (C – k) mod (26)

Cryptanalysis of

Caesar Cipher
• only have 26 possible ciphers
o A maps to A,B,..Z

• could simply try each in turn


• a brute force search
• given ciphertext, just try all shifts of letters
• do need to recognize when have plaintext
• eg. break ciphertext "GCUA VQ DTGCM"

Monoalphabetic
Cipher
• rather than just shifting the alphabet
• could shuffle (jumble) the letters
arbitrarily
• each plaintext letter maps to a

different random ciphertext letter


• hence key is 26 letters long

Plain: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz Cipher:


DKVQFIBJWPESCXHTMYAUOLRGZN
Plaintext: ifwewishtoreplaceletters
Ciphertext:
WIRFRWAJUHYFTSDVFSFUUFYA
Language Redundancy
and Cryptanalysis
• human languages are redundant
• eg "th lrd s m shphrd shll nt wnt"
• letters are not equally commonly
used
• in English e is by far the most
common letter then T,R,N,I,O,A,S
• other letters are fairly rare Z,J,K,Q,X
• have tables of single, double & triple
letter frequencies

English Letter

Frequencies
Example
Cryptanalysis
• given ciphertext:
UZQSOVUOHXMOPVGPOZPEVSGZWSZOPFPESXUD
BMETSXAIZ
VUEPHZHMDZSHZOWSFPAPPDTSVPQUZWYMXUZUH
SX
EPYEPOPDZSZUFPOMBZWPFUPZHMDJUDTMOHMQ

• count relative letter frequencies


(see text)
• guess P & Z are e and t
• guess ZW is th and hence ZWP is
the
• proceeding with trial and error finally
get:
it was disclosed yesterday that several informal but direct
contacts have been made with political representatives of
the Viet cong in Moscow
One-Time Pad
• if a truly random key as long as the

message is used, the cipher will be secure


• called a One-Time pad
• is unbreakable since ciphertext bears no

statistical relationship to the plaintext


• since for any plaintext & any ciphertext

there exists a key mapping one to other


• can only use the key once though
• have problem of safe distribution of key

One-Time Pads
The use of a one-time pad for encryption
and the possibility of getting any possible
plaintext from the ciphertext by the use of
some other pad.

Transposition
Ciphers
• now consider classical transposition or
permutation ciphers
• these hide the message by rearranging
the letter order
• without altering the actual letters used
• can recognise these since have the same
frequency distribution as the original text

Rail Fence cipher


• write message letters out diagonally over
a number of rows
• then read off cipher row by row
• eg. write message out as:
mematrhtgpryetefeteoaat
• giving ciphertext
MEMATRHTGPRYETEFETEOAAT

Row Transposition

Ciphers
• a more complex scheme
• write letters of message out in rows

over a specified number of columns


• then reorder the columns according

to some key before reading off the

rows
Key: 3 4 2 1 5 6 7 Plaintext: a t t a c k p o s t p o n e d u n t
i l t w o a m x y z Ciphertext:
TTNAAPTMTSUOAODWCOIXKNLYPETZ

Transposition
Ciphers
• A transposition cipher.

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