CLASSICAL ENCRYPTION TECHNIQUE

Plaintext- original message

Ciphertext – coded message
Enciphering, encryption – process of converting from plaintext to
ciphertext
Deciphering, decryption – restoring the plaintext from the ciphertext
Cryptography – area of study schemes for enciphering
Cryptographic system, cipher – scheme of enciphering
Cryptanalysis – techniques for deciphering a message without
knowledge of the enciphering details
Cryptology – areas of cryptography and cryptanalysis
OUTLINE
1. SYMMETRIC CIPHER MODEL
2. SUBSTITUTION TECHNIQUES
3. TRANSPOSITION TECHNIQUES
4. ROTOR MACHINES
5. STEGANOGRAPHY

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 SYMMETRIC CIPHER MODEL
Symmetric (conventional) encryption scheme has the following
ingredients

There are 2 requirements for secure use of conventional encryption:

1. We need a strong encryption algorithm – the opponent should be
unable to decrypt ciphertext or to discover the key even if s/he is in the
possession of a number of ciphertexts together with the plaintext that
produced each ciphertext
2. Sender and receiver must have obtained copies of the secret key in
a secure fashion and must keep the key secure. If someone can discover the
key and knows the algorithm, all communication using this key is readable
We assume that it is impractical to decrypt a message on the basis of
the ciphertext plus knowledge of the encryption/decryption algorithm, i.e.
we do not need to keep the algorithm secret; we need to keep only the key
secret.
Let’s consider essential elements of a symmetric encryption scheme:

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 SYMMETRIC CIPHER MODEL (CONT 1)

We can write:
Y=EK(X)
X= DK(Y)
Opponent knows Y, E, D. He may be interested to recover X or/and K.
Knowledge of K gives him opportunity to read future messages.

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 CRYPTOGRAPHY
Cryptographic systems are characterized by
1. The type of operations used for transforming plaintext to ciphertext
(substitution, transposition). Fundamental requirement – no information be
lost
2. The number of keys used (1 key – symmetric, single-key, secret-
key; 2 keys – asymmetric, two-key, public-key)
3. The way in which the plaintext is processed (block cipher, stream

cipher). Stream cipher may be viewed as a block cipher with block size
equal to 1 element.
CRYPTANALYSIS
There are two general approaches to attacking a conventional
encryption scheme:
1. Cryptanalysis: attempts to use characteristics of the plaintext or

even some plaintext-ciphertext pairs to deduce a specific plaintext or key

being used
2. Brute-force attack: every possible key is tried until an intelligible

translation into plaintext is obtained. On average, half of all possible keys

should be tried to achieve success.

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 CRYPTANALYSIS (CONT 1)
Unconditionally secure encryption scheme – ciphertext generated by
the scheme does not contain enough information to determine uniquely the
corresponding plaintext, no matter how much ciphertext is available.
Excepting a scheme known as one-time pad, there is no encryption
algorithm that is unconditionally secure. Therefore, encryption algorithm
should meet one or both of the following criteria:
- The cost of breaking the cipher exceeds the value of the encrypted
information
- The time required to break the cipher exceeds the useful lifetime of
the information
Such algorithm is called computationally secure. Table below shows
how much time is involved for various key sizes. The 56-bit key size is used
with the DES (Data Encryption Standard), 168-bit – for triple DES, 128-bit
– for AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). Results are also shown for
substitution codes that use 26-character key, in which all possible
permutations of the 26 characters serve as keys. It is assumed that it take 1
μs to perform a single decryption or encryption (in last column – 106
decryptions per 1 μs)

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 CRYPTANALYSIS (CONT 2)
All forms of cryptanalysis for symmetric encryption try to exploit the
fact that traces of structure or pattern in the plaintext may survive encryption
and be discernible in the ciphertext. Cryptanalysis for public-key schemes
tries to use mathematical properties of pair of keys to deduce one from the
other.
SUBSTITUTION TECHNIQUE
A substitution technique is one in which the letters of plaintext are
replaced by other letters or by numbers. If the plaintext is viewed as a
sequence of bits, then substitution involves replacing plaintext bit patterns
with ciphertext bit patterns
CAESAR CIPHER
It was used by Julius Caesar. The Caesar cipher involves replacing
each letter of the alphabet with the letter standing three places further down
the alphabet
For example
Plain: meet me after the toga party
Cipher: PHHW PH DIWHU WKH WRJD SDUWB
Transformation is made using the following mapping:
Plain: a bc d efgh i j k l mno pq r s t u v wxy z
Cipher: D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C
Let us assign a numerical equivalent to each letter from 0 to 25. Then
the algorithm may be expressed as follows. For each plaintext letter p,
substitute the ciphertext letter C:
C=E(p)=(p+3) mod 26
A shift may be of any amount, so that general Caesar algorithm is

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 CAESAR CIPHER (CONT 1)
C=E(p)=(p+k) mod 26,
where k takes on a value in the range 1 to 25. The decryption algorithm is
simply
p=D(C)=(C-k) mod 26
If it is known that a given ciphertext is a Caesar cipher, then a brute-
force cryptanalysis is easily performed: simply try all possible 25 keys.
Three important characteristics of this problem enable us to use brute-
force cryptanalysis:
1. The encryption and decryption algorithms are known
2. There are only 25 keys to try
3. The language of the plaintext is known and easily recognizable
In most networking situations algorithms are assumed to be known.
Brute-force analysis is impractical when algorithm employs large of keys.
The 3rd characteristic is also significant. If the language of the plaintext is
not known, then the plaintext output may not be recognizable.

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CAESAR CIPHER (CONT 2)

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 CAESAR CIPHER (CONT 3)
Furthermore, if the input is compressed in some manner, again
recognition is difficult. Below is example of compression by ZIP:

If this file is then encrypted with a simple substitution cipher

(expanded to include more than just 26 characters), then the plaintext may
not be recognized
MONOALPHABETIC CIPHERS
With only 25 keys Caesar cipher is far from secure. A dramatic
increase in the key space may be achieved by allowing an arbitrary
substitution. If instead of
Plain: a bc d e fgh i j k l mno pq r s t u vwxy z
Cipher: D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C

the cipher line can be any permutation of the 26 alphabetic symbols, then
there are 26! or greater than 4*1026 possible keys. There is however another
line of attack. If the cryptanalyst knows the nature of the plaintext (e.g.,
noncompressed English text), then the analyst can exploit the regularities of
the language.

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 MONOALPHABETIC CIPHERS (CONT 1)
Let’s consider example of ciphertext:

UZQSOVUOHXMOPVGPOZPEVSGZWSZOPFPESXUDBMETSXAIZ
VUEPHZHMDZSHZOWSFPAPPDTSVPQUZWYMXUZUHSX
EPYEPOPDZSZUFPOMBZWPFUPZHMDJUDTMOHMQ

As a first step, relative frequency of the letters can be determined and

compared to a standard frequency distribution for English:

The relative frequencies of the letters in the ciphertext (in

percentages):

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 MONOALPHABETIC CIPHERS (CONT 2)

P 13.33 H 5.83 F 3.33 B 1.67 C 0.00

Z 11.67 D 5.00 W 3.33 G 1.67 K 0.00
S 8.33 E 5.00 Q 2.50 Y 1.67 L 0.00
U 8.33 V 4.17 T 2.50 I 0.83 N 0.00
O 7.50 X 4.17 A 1.67 J 0.83 R 0.00
M 6.67
Comparing this with Fig.2.5, it seems likely that cipher letters P and Z
are the equivalents of plain letters e and t, but it is not certain which is
which. The letters S,U,O,M, and H are all of the relatively high frequency
and probably correspond to plain letters from the set {a,h,i,n,o,r,s}. The
letters with the lowest frequencies (A,B,G,Y,I,J) are likely included in the
set {b,j,k,q,v,x,z}. Now we could make some tentative assignments and start
to fill plaintext to see if it looks like a reasonable “skeleton” of a message.
Another way, to consider frequency of two-letter combinations, is
known as digrams. The most common digram is th. In our ciphertext, the
most common digram is ZW, which appears 3 times. So, we make
correspondence: Z – t, W – h. Then, P is equated with e. Now notice that
sequence ZWP appears in the ciphertext, and we can translate it as “the”.
Next, notice ZWSZ in the first line. If they form a complete word, it will be
th_t. If so, S equates with a. So far, then, we have

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 MONOALPHABETIC CIPHERS (CONT 3)
UZQSOVUOHXMOPVGPOZPEVSGZWSZOPFPESXUDBMETSXAIZ
t a e e te a t h at e e a a
VUEPHZHMDZSHZOWSFPAPPDTSVPQUZWYMXUZUHSX
e t ta t ha e ee a e th t a
EPYEPOPDZSZUFPOMBZWPFUPZHMDJUDTMOHMQ
e e e tat e t he et
Continued analysis of frequencies plus trial and error may lead us to
the solution:

it was disclosed yesterday that several informal but

direct contacts have been made with political
representatives of the viet cong in Moscow

Two principal methods are used in substitution ciphers to lessen the

extent to which the structure of the plaintext survives in the ciphertext: One
approach is to encrypt multiple letters of the plaintext (Playfair Cipher, Hill
Cipher), and the other is to use multiple cipher alphabets (Polyalphabetic
Ciphers)
PLAYFAIR CIPHER
The best-known multiple-letter encryption cipher is the Playfair
(invented in 1854 by Sir Charles Wheatstone, but it bears the name of his
friend Baron Playfair of St. Andrews, who championed the cipher at the
British foreign office), which treats digrams in the plaintext as single units
and translates these units into ciphertext digrams.

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 PLAYFAIR CIPHER (CONT 1)
The Playfair algorithm is based on the use of a 5x5 matrix of letters
constructed using a keyword. In the case of keyword monarchy, matrix is as
follows:
M O N A R
C H Y B D
E F G I/J K
L P Q S T
U V W X Z

The matrix is constructed by filling in the letters of the keyword

(minus duplicates) from left to right and from top to bottom, and then filling
in the remainder of the matrix with the remaining letters in alphabetic order.
The letters I and J count as one letter. Plaintext is encrypted two letters at a
time, according to the following rules:
1. Repeating plaintext letters that would fall in the same pair are

separated with a filler letter, such as x, so that balloon will be treated as ba

lx lo on
2. Plaintext letters that would fall in the same row of matrix are each

replaced with the letter to the right, with the first element of the row
circularly following the last. For example, ar is encrypted as RM.
3. Plaintext letters that fall in the same column are each replaced by

the letter beneath, with the top element of the row circularly following the
last. For example, mu is encrypted as CM.

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 PLAYFAIR CIPHER (CONT 2)
4. Otherwise, each plaintext letter is replaced by the letter that lies in

its own row and the column occupied by the other plaintext letter. Thus, hs
becomes BP, and ea becomes IM (or JM, as the encipherer wishes).
As far as number of digrams is 26x26=676 is significantly greater than
number of letters, frequency analysis becomes much more difficult. For
these reasons, Playfair cipher was for a long time considered unbreakable. It
was used as standard field system by the British Army in World War I and
still enjoyed considerable use by U.S.Army and other Allied forces during
World War II.
Despite this level of confidence in its security, the Playfair cipher is
relatively easy to break because it still leaves much of the structure of the
plaintext language intact. A few hundred letters of ciphertext are generally
sufficient.
HILL CIPHER
It was developed by the mathematician Lester Hill in 1929. The
encryption algorithm takes m successive plaintext letters and substitutes for
them m ciphertext letters. The substitution is determined by m linear
equations in which each character is assigned a numerical value:
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 25
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4

For m=3, the system can be described as follows:

C1=(k11p1+k12p2+k13p3) mod 26
C2=(k21p1+k22p2+k23p3) mod 26
C3=(k31p1+k32p2+k33p3) mod 26

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 HILL CIPHER (CONT 1)
This can be expressed in terms of column vectors and matrices:
C=KP mod 26,
where C and P are column vectors of length 3, representing the plaintext and
ciphertext, and K is 3x3 matrix, representing the encryption key.
Operations are performed mod 26.
For example, consider the plaintext “payformoney”, and use the
encryption key

K=
17 17 5
21 18 21
2 2 19

The first 3 letters of the plaintext are represented by the vector (15 0
24). Then K(15 0 24) = (375 819 486) mod 26 = (11 13 18) = LNS.
Continuing in this fashion, the ciphertext for the entire plaintext is
LNSHDLEWMTRW.
Decryption requires using the inverse of the matrix K. The inverse K-1
of a matrix K is defined by K K-1 = K-1 K=I, where I is the unit matrix (1-s
on the diagonal, other elements – zeroes). The inverse of the matrix does not
always exist, but when it does, it satisfies the preceding equation. In this
case, the inverse is

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 HILL CIPHER (CONT 2)
K-1=
4 9 15
15 17 6
24 0 17

This is demonstrated as follows:

K K-1 =
443 442 442
858 495 780
494 52 365
And after taking mod 26 of the elements above, unit matrix is
obtained.
In general terms, the Hill system can be expressed as follows:
C=EK(P)=KP mod 26
P= DK(C)=K-1C mod 26 = K-1KP = P
As with Playfair, the strength of the Hill cipher is that it completely
hides single-letter frequencies.
Although the Hill cipher is strong against a ciphertext-only attack
(opponent has only ciphertext), it is easily broken with a known plaintext
attack (opponent has pairs plaintext – ciphertext). For an m*m Hill cipher,
suppose we have m plaintext-ciphertext pairs, each of length m. We label the
pairs Pj=(p1j, p2j,…, pmj) and Cj=(c1j, c2j,…, cmj) such that Cj=KPj for
1<=j<=m and for some unknown key matrix K. Now define two m*m
matrices X=( pij) and Y=( cij).

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 HILL CIPHER (CONT 3)
Then we can form matrix equation Y=KX. If X has an inverse, then
we can determine K=YX-1. If X is not invertible, then a new version of X
can be formed until an invertible X is obtained.
Suppose that the plaintext “friday” is encrypted using a 2*2 Hill cipher
to yield the ciphertext PQCFKU. Thus, we know that
K(5 17) = (15 16);
K(8 3) = (2 5);
K(0 24) = (10 20).
Using the first 2 plaintext-ciphertext pairs, we have

1 5 2   5 8 
  = K   m o2d6
1 6 5  1 7 3 
The inverse of X can be computed:
−1
5 8  9 2 
  =  
 1 7 3   1 1 5
1 5 2  9 2  1 3 7 6 0  7 8 
K =     =   m o2 d6=  
 1 6 5   1 1 5  1 4 9 1 0 7 1 9 3 
Let’s check now that this key matrix produces required
transformation:

 7 8   5   3 5+ 1 3 6  1 7 1 1 5
    =   =   m o 2d 6=  
 1 9 3   1 7   9 5+ 5 1   1 4 6 1 6

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 7 8   8   5 6+ 2 4   8 0  2 
    =   =   m o 2d 6=  
 1 9 3   3   1 5 2+ 9   1 6 1 5 
 7 8   0   1 9 2 1 0 
    =   m o 2d 6=  
1 9 3  2 4  7 2   2 0

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