SEME 118: NUMBER THEORY FINALS NOTES
CRYPTOLOGY
It is derived from the Greek words ‘kryptos’ DEFINITION OF TERMS
which means “hidden” and ‘logos’ which • Plaintext is the original message that is to
means “word”. It is the discipline devoted be transmitted in secret form.
to secrecy systems and it consists of
cryptography and cryptanalysis. • Ciphertext pertains to the secret version of
the plain text.
The word cryptography is derived from the
Greek words, ‘kryptos’ meaning hidden, and • Key determines a particular transformation
‘graphein’, meaning to write. Cryptography from a set of possible transformations and
is the art and science of concealing the aids in breaking the code.
meaning of confidential communications
from all except the intended recipients. It • Cipher refers to the method of translating
deals with the design and it is the plaintext to ciphertext.
implementation of security systems.
• Encrypting/Enciphering talks about the
CRYTOANALYSIS process of converting plaintext to
It refers to the process of analysing an ciphertext and it needs a converting device
algorithm that aimed at breaking the hidden which is called the encryptor.
message or the secrey of a system.
• Decrypting/Deciphering is the reverse
process by the intended recipient who knows
the key and it is accomplished by a
decryptor.
TECHNIQUE IN CIPHER
Caesar Cipher
It is the method named after Julius
Caesar, who used it to communicate
with his generals. It is a type of
substitution cipher in which each
letter in the plaintext is replaced by a
letter some fixed number of
SHORT HISTORY positions further in the alphabet.
• During World War II, 30,000 people were In Caesar Cipher, use the
engaged in cryptographic work. The breaking CAPITALIZATION of all the letters in
of Japan’s Purple machine code by U.S. plaintext and ciphertext.
cryptanalysts shortly before the attack on You can include punctuation marks to
Pearl Harbor led to the Allied victory in the indicate blanks or numbers.
Pacific. Today the U.S. government and
business employ tens of thousands of people In all cryptosystems we first translate each
and spend billions of dollars annually on letter to a number. A convenient way of doing
cryptology. this is by numbering the letters A through Z by
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt, when he was their ordinal numbers 00 through 25,
21, used a simple code in his diary. respectively.
• American poet Edgar Allan Poe, who was a
skilled cryptanalyst, wrote that human
ingenuity could invent no code that human
ingenuity could not crack.
SEME 118: NUMBER THEORY FINALS NOTES
In cipher, it involves two processes which and show your complete solution using a
includes the enciphering/ encryption and tabular form.
deciphering/decryption.
Given: Plaintext: HELLO! ; Key: 5
The Caesar cipher can be described by the Solution:
congruence formula; Task: Encipher through the key of 5
Encryptor: C ≡ (P + 5) mod 26; 0 ≤ C ≤ 25
For the encryption: C ≡ (P + k) mod 26; 0 ≤
C ≤ 25 encryptor
For the decryption: P ≡ (C − k) mod 26; 0 ≤
P ≤ 25 decryptor
Therefore, the Ciphertext: MJQQT
Legend:
o P is the numerical equivalent of a letter in Example 2
the plaintext Decipher the message “WKLV PHVVDJH LV
o C is the numerical equivalent of ciphertext D WRS VHFUHW” given the key 3. Write its
letters corresponding decryptor and show your
o K is the key representing the size of the complete solution using a tabular form.
shift of letters in the alphabet.
Given: Ciphertext: WKLV PHVVDJH LV D
STEPS IN CAESAR CIPHER WRS VHFUHW ; Key: 3
1. Determine if you will encipher or decipher a Solution:
message. Task: Decipher through the key of 3
2. Take note of the given key. Decryptor: P ≡ (C − 3) mod 26; 0 ≤ P ≤ 25
3. Write the corresponding congruence
formula whether you are tasked to
encipher/decipher.
4. Make a table.
First row must consist of the letters
from A to Z. Tip: Just solve for the first ordinal number of
Below it, write its respective ordinal the ciphertext using
number. P ≡ (C − 3) mod 26;
For the third row, apply the P ≡ (0 − 3) mod 26
congruence formula to obtain a new P ≡ −3 mod 26
sequence of ordinal numbers P ≡ 23
Then below it, substitute back the Since 23 is the first ordinal number, you can
letters based from the modified just simply write the next ordinal numbers
ordinal until it reaches 25 then simply go back to 0
numbers for the ciphertext. and so on.
5. Write a Conclusion.
Translate the given message based
Therefore the plaintext is THIS MESSAGE
from the table of the conversion of the
IS A TOP SECRET
letters in plaintext to ciphertext.
Note: You can also modify the spacing of
Example 1
letters to increase difficulty of deciphering a
Encipher the message “HELLO” given the
message
key of 5. Write its corresponding decryptor
For instance: WK LVPH VVD JH LVDWRS
VHFU HW
SEME 118: NUMBER THEORY FINALS NOTES
TH ISME SSA GE ISATOP SECR ET