Types of Classical ciphers

Classical ciphers are often divided into transposition ciphers and substitution ciphers.

Substitution ciphers
In a substitution cipher, letters (or groups of letters) are systematically replaced throughout the
message for other letters (or groups of letters).
A well-known example of a substitution cipher is the Caesar cipher. To encrypt a message with
the Caesar cipher, each letter of message is replaced by the letter three positions later in the
alphabet. Hence, A is replaced by D, B by E, C by F, etc. Finally, X, Y and Z are replaced by A,
B and C respectively. So, for example, "WIKIPEDIA" encrypts as "ZLNLSHGLD". Caesar
rotated the alphabet by three letters, but any number works.
Another method of substitution cipher is based on a keyword. All spaces and repeated letters are
removed from a word or phrase, which the encoder then uses as the start of the cipher alphabet.
The end of the cipher alphabet is the rest of the alphabet in order without repeating the letters in
the keyword. For example, if the keyword is CIPHER, the cipher alphabet would look like this:
normal alphabet: 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
cipher alphabet: c i p h e r s t u v w x y z a b d f g j k l m n o q
The previous examples were all examples of monoalphabetic substitution ciphers, where just one
cipher alphabet is used. It is also possible to have a polyalphabetic substitution cipher, where
multiple cipher alphabets are used. The encoder would just make up two or more cipher
alphabets using whatever techniques he or she chooses, and then encode their message,
alternating what cipher alphabet is used with every letter or word. This makes the message much
harder to decode because the codebreaker would have to figure out both cipher alphabets.
Another example of a polyalphabetic substitution cipher that is much more difficult to decode is
the Vigenre square, an innovative encoding method. With the square, there are 26 different
cipher alphabets that are used to encrypt text. Each cipher alphabet is just another rightword
Caesar shift of the original alphabet. This is what a Vigenre square looks like:
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K

B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L

C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M

D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N

E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O

F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P

G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q

H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R

I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S

J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T

K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U

L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V

M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W

N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X

O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y

P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A

R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B

S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C

T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D

U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D
E

V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D
E
F

W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D
E
F
G

X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H

Y
Z
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I

Z
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J

L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A

N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B

O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C

P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D

Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D
E

R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D
E
F

S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D
E
F
G

T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H

U
V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I

V
W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J

W
X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K

X
Y
Z
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L

Y
Z
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M

Z
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O

B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P

C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q

D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R

E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S

F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T

G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U

H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V

I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W

J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X

K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y

To use the Vigenre square to encrypt a message, you first choose a keyword and then repeat it
until it is the same length as the message you wish to encode. You then would write the message
underneath the repeated keyword to see which cipher alphabet you would use for each letter of
the message. The first letter of the message would be encoded using the cipher alphabet that
corresponds with the first letters of the keyword. The cipher alphabet that uses B for A and C for
B etc. would be cipher alphabet 'B'. Each cipher alphabet is named by the first letter in it. For
example if you have a keyword of WORD and the message you want to encode is I LOVE
CRYPTOGRAPHY, this is what you would do:
message: I LOVE CRYPTOGRAPHY
keyword: W ORDW ORDWORDWORDW
encoded text:E ZFYA QIBLHFJNOGKU
Some substitution ciphers involve using numbers instead of letters. An example of this is the
Great Cipher, where numbers were used to represent syllables. There is also another number
substitution cipher that involves having four different number pair options for a letter based on a
keyword.
Instead of numbers, symbols can also be used to replace letters or syllables. One example of this
is Zodiac alphabet, where signs of the zodiac were used to represent different letters, for
example, the symbols for the sun stood for A, Jupiter stood for B, and Saturn stood for C. Dots,
lines, or dashes could also be used, one example of this being Morse Code, which isn't really a
cipher, but uses dots and dashes as letters nonetheless. The pigpen cipher uses a grid system or
lines and dots to establish symbols for letters. There are various other methods that involve
substituting letters of the alphabet with symbols or dots and dashes.