MODULE 3 QUESTIONS
Classical Encryption Techniques
Substitution Techniques (Additive, Hill, Playfair)
1. In an additive cipher over Z26, an attacker intercepts the ciphertext "YFEE". Through
cryptanalysis, they determine the first two letters of the plaintext are "CO". Formulate the
linear congruence equation to find the numeric key k , verify the key using the second
letter, and decrypt the remaining ciphertext.
2. A 2×2 Hill cipher uses the key matrix K = [[7, 8], [11, 11]] over Z26. Calculate the
determinant of K , find its modular inverse in modulo 26, and determine the exact
decryption matrix K-1 .
3. An attacker intercepts the ciphertext "DYZQ" and knows the corresponding plaintext is
"MATH". Assuming a 2×2 Hill cipher over Z26 is used, construct the plaintext and
ciphertext matrices, and algebraically solve for the unknown key matrix K .
4. Consider a Playfair cipher using the keyword "CRYPTOGRAPHY" (combining I/J in the same
cell). How many unique letters remain to be filled in the 5×5 matrix? If a plaintext contains
exactly 14 characters and contains no duplicate consecutive letters, what is the exact
length of the resulting ciphertext?
Transposition Techniques
1. A message of length 45 characters is encrypted using a single columnar transposition
cipher with the keyword "NETWORK". Determine the exact number of rows required in
the transposition grid. How many columns will contain exactly 7 characters, and how
many will contain 6 characters?
2. A Double Columnar Transposition cipher uses the keyword "KEY" (length 3) for the first
pass and "LOCK" (length 4) for the second pass. If the original plaintext has exactly 24
characters, what are the mathematical dimensions (rows × columns) of the grids for both
passes, and what is the coordinate position of the very first plaintext character in the
intermediate grid before the second transposition?
Stream Cipher, Block Cipher & One-Time Pad
1. A Linear Feedback Shift Register (LFSR) used as a stream cipher generator has 4 stages
with the feedback polynomial P(x) = x4 + x + 1 . If the initial state seed is
S0 = [1, 0, 0, 0] , trace the register states to calculate the first 8 bits of the generated
keystream sequence.
2. In a binary One-Time Pad system, a sender encrypts the 8-bit plaintext message M =
11001010 using a randomly generated 8-bit key K = 01101100 . Calculate the ciphertext
C . If an active attacker flips the 3rd and 5th bits (from the left) of C during transmission,
what will be the exact binary value of the plaintext upon decryption?
3. Suppose a classical block cipher operates not on English letters, but on a custom alphabet
containing 64 distinct symbols. Calculate the theoretical size of the key space for a simple
monoalphabetic substitution cipher using this alphabet. Express your answer as a
factorial and estimate its magnitude in base-10 scientific notation using Stirling's
approximation (n! ≈ √(2πn) · (n/e)n) .
Random Number Generators
1. A Linear Congruential Generator (LCG) is used to generate pseudorandom keys for a
stream cipher. The generator is defined by the recurrence relation Xn+1 = (7Xn + 3) mod
11 . If the initial seed is X0 = 5 , calculate the sequence of values X1, X2, X3, X4 . Does
the generator achieve the maximum possible period for modulo 11? Justify your answer
mathematically.