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Foundations of Computer Security: Lecture 40: Substitution Ciphers

This document summarizes a lecture on substitution ciphers. It defines substitution ciphers as encrypting plaintext by exchanging each symbol for another symbol. Simple substitution ciphers exchange symbols uniformly, while polyalphabetic substitution varies the substitutions depending on the symbol's position. Examples covered include the Caesar cipher which shifts letters by a fixed number, and the Vigenère cipher which uses a keyword to vary the shift through a tableau. The document also discusses cryptanalysis of these ciphers by examining letter frequencies.

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42 views

Foundations of Computer Security: Lecture 40: Substitution Ciphers

This document summarizes a lecture on substitution ciphers. It defines substitution ciphers as encrypting plaintext by exchanging each symbol for another symbol. Simple substitution ciphers exchange symbols uniformly, while polyalphabetic substitution varies the substitutions depending on the symbol's position. Examples covered include the Caesar cipher which shifts letters by a fixed number, and the Vigenère cipher which uses a keyword to vary the shift through a tableau. The document also discusses cryptanalysis of these ciphers by examining letter frequencies.

Uploaded by

Mc Robinson Regucera
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Foundations of Computer Security

Lecture 40: Substitution Ciphers

Dr. Bill Young


Department of Computer Sciences
University of Texas at Austin

Lecture 40: 1 Substitution Ciphers


Substitution Ciphers

A substitution cipher is one in which each symbol of the plaintext


is exchanged for another symbol.

If this is done uniformly this is called a monoalphabetic cipher or


simple substitution cipher.

If different substitutions are made depending on where in the


plaintext the symbol occurs, this is called a polyalphabetic
substitution.

Lecture 40: 2 Substitution Ciphers


Simple Substitution

A simple substitution cipher is an injection (1-1 mapping) of the


alphabet into itself or another alphabet. What is the key?

A simple substitution is breakable; we could try all k! mappings


from the plaintext to ciphertext alphabets. That’s usually not
necessary.

Redundancies in the plaintext (letter frequencies, digrams, etc.)


are reflected in the ciphertext.

Not all substitution ciphers are simple substitution ciphers.

Lecture 40: 3 Substitution Ciphers


Caesar Cipher

The Caesar Cipher is a monoalphabetic cipher in which each letter


is replaced in the encryption by another letter a fixed “distance”
away in the alphabet.

For example, A is replaced by C, B by D, ..., Y by A, Z by B, etc.


What is the key?

What is the size of the keyspace? Is the algorithm strong?

Lecture 40: 4 Substitution Ciphers


Vigenère Cipher

The Vigenère Cipher is an example of a polyalphabetic cipher,


sometimes called a running key cipher because the key is another
text.

Start with a key string: “monitors to go to the bathroom” and a


plaintext to encrypt: “four score and seven years ago.” Align the
two texts, possibly removing spaces:

plaintext: fours corea ndsev enyea rsago


key: monit orsto gotot hebat hroom
ciphertext: rcizl qfkxo trlso lrzet yjoua

Then use the letter pairs to look up an encryption in a table


(called a Vigenère Tableau or tabula recta).

What is the corresponding decryption algorithm?

Lecture 40: 5 Substitution Ciphers


Vigenère Tableau

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
A 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
B 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 A
C C 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
D 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
E 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 D
F F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E
G G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F
H H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G
I I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H
J J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I
K K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J
L L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K
M M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L
N N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M
O O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N
P P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
Q Q R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P
R R S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q
S S T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R
T T U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S
U U V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T
V V W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U
W W X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V
X X Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W
Y Y Z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X
Z Z 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

Lecture 40: 6 Substitution Ciphers


Cryptanalysis on Vigenère Cipher

The Vigenère Cipher selects one of twenty-six different Caesar


Ciphers, depending upon the corresponding letter in the key.

Running key ciphers are susceptible to statistical analysis. Both


key and plaintext are English language strings and so have the
entropy characteristics of English. In particular, the letters A, E, O,
T, N, I make up approximately 50% of English text. Thus, at
approximately 25% of indices, these can be expected to coincide.

This is an example of a regularity in the ciphertext that would not


be expected merely from chance.

Lecture 40: 7 Substitution Ciphers


AES Substitution Step
Substitution need not only apply to symbols in a text.

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) contains a substitution


step; each byte in a 16-byte array is replaced with a corresponding
entry from a fixed 8-bit lookup table.

Lecture 40: 8 Substitution Ciphers


Lessons

Substitution is one of the building blocks of encryption.


Simple substitution means replacing symbols uniformly by
others. The Caesar Cipher and our pirate example are
instances.
Polyalphabetic substitution means that the substitution varies
according to the position in the text. The Vigenère Cipher is
an example.

Next lecture: Using Information

Lecture 40: 9 Substitution Ciphers

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