Haha. I was just joking about the written in code and cipher part. Or was I? No, I really was. As much as I like writing in codes and ciphers or would sit down and decipher anything written in code (because it's fun, and I have no life), I know not everyone has the time, and I really want you all to appreciate coding (not computer coding, traditional coding). Before you really get into this post, you need to know that codes and ciphers are not at all the same. In codes, words are replaced with a code word or symbol while in ciphers, letters are replaced with other cipher letters or symbols. Out of the several thousands or so codes and ciphers out there, here are some of my favorite codes and ciphers:
1. MORSE CODE was developed for the electrical telegraph system invented by Samuel Morse (an American artist), Joseph Henry (an American physicist), and Alfred Vail (no idea what he was, but he was probably American, too) in 1836 and is the foundation of the modern International Morse Code. The name is a bit misleading because it's actually a cipher and not a code. In Morse Code, all the letters of the alphabet, numbers 0-9, and a few punctuation marks are replaced with dots and dashes (or short and long beeps). It was not necessarily used to conceal the messages being sent, but for transmitting them easily in a series of clicks, tones, or lights. Today, pilots, air traffic controllers, and the most basic distress signal, SOS (three dots, three dashes, and three more dots), use Morse Code.
2. CAESAR SHIFT CIPHER was named after Julius Caesar, since he was one of the first to use it. It's a cipher that represents each letter of the alphabet with a different letter. To figure it out, you need to know at least one letter for another (like A = Z), and from there, you can find the other letters. Because it is very easy to figure out, secrets don't stay secret very long, but it has been used as the basis for the creation of more complex ciphers.
3. ENIGMA CODE is a sophisticated cipher used by Germans during World War II. It involved the use of an Enigma machine (which is very similar to a type writer), and all Germans had the same type of machine and the initial wheel configuration in the machine which was used to communicate with all the teams. When one would press a letter key on the machine, a cipher letter would light up on the screen. As the wheel was rotated a certain amount of letters, it got more difficult, and the cipher would continue changing. There could potentially be over one hundred trillion possible configurations making it extremely hard to decipher until Alan Turing (a Cambridge University Mathematician) invented an electromechanical machine that could find the settings for the Enigma machine and broke the German Enigma (this invention shorted the war by about two to four years).
4. PUBLIC-KEY CRYPTOGRAPHY is one of the most commonly used codes or ciphers. This modern code is made of two keys (the private and the public key). The public key is a large number that anyone can get (like 1764) while the private key is made of two numbers (apart from one and the number itself). These to numbers are multiplied together and produce the public key (like 36 and 49 multiplied together equal 1764). Without the private key, the code cannot be decoded.
5. TRANSPOSITION CIPHER was used during the American Civil War and World War I to communicate sensitive messages. It involves the rearrangement of the alphabet letters based on a pre-determined key or rule (some examples would be the all the words in the message are simply written backwards or every pair of letters is swapped). The more complex the rearrangement rule is, the harder the cipher is to decipher, but with modern algorithms, it can now be easily deciphered.
6. BOOK CIPHER involves the use of some sort of key which is usually a book (hence the name). Both the sending party and the receiving party should own the same type of book (in every way) in order to successfully decipher the message. In order to make a book cipher, locations in the book are used to replace the plain text of messages. One should use a less known book for the cipher in order for it to be harder to figure out.
7. SCYTALE is an extremely old form of cryptography used by the ancient Greeks (especially the Spartans) during military campaigns. This type of transposition cipher involves a parchment with a message wrapped around a cylinder of some sort. In order to decipher it, the recipient has to unwind parchment of the same size from the cylinder. Because it is so easy, it is used more for authentication than for encryption.
8. STEGANOGRAPHY involves the concealment of a message, image, or file in another message, image, or file. The first usage of this was in 1499 where text could be written using invisible ink between lines of text. This type of cryptography doesn't arouse suspicion like an encrypted message would.
9. PIGPEN CIPHER is also known as the Tic-Tac-Toe Cipher and dates back to the 18th century (though it's exact origin cannot be pinpointed). The letters of the alphabet are replaced by fragments of a geometrical grid. The grid and dots are the core of elements of this cipher, and the alphabet is arranged in two grids followed by two x shaped grids. Since it is so simple, it has even been used in children's books of secret writing as well.
10. PLAYFAIR CIPHER is also known as the PlayFair Square. It was invented by Charles Wheatstone in 1854 (but is named after the person who promoted its use), and is the first literal digraph substitution cipher and involves the manual symmetric encryption technique. Instead of single letters being encrypted, this cipher has pairs of letters encrypted making it harder to decipher. It creates 600 possible digraphs as compared to 26 monographs.
- Delanna
P.S. A lot of these codes and ciphers are used throughout the TV series, Gravity Falls. Several codes are hidden through out the episodes and give hints to what may happen in future episodes if decoded or deciphered.
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