Tactics for deciphering codes!

1) Do your research and find a list of ciphers so you have something to go off

2) The shifts/keys are always in the clues, so be on the lookout!

3) Resort to using letter frequency analysis if you aren't able to find the shift/key/cipher. Be aware of common words with few letters (as, a, the, an, you, is, to, are, on, for, at, and I just to name a few!) I All the information you need is there, hiding in plain sight though!

4) Use online decoders! They're very practical and save a lot of time! We want you to learn about the logic of ciphers, you don't have to manually decrypt everything

5) Just a little hint: if there is a number mentioned in the clue of a cipher, look out! It's almost always the key/shift!

Past Ciphers:

ATBASH
Atbash cipher (also called mirror cipher or backwards alphabet or reverse alphabet) is the name given to a monoalphabetical substitution cipher which owes its name and origins to the Hebrew alphabet.

Atbash encryption uses a substitution alphabet and its reciprocal, a combination of the normal alphabet and its reverse alphabet (mirrored).

Normal Alphabet: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
Reverse Alphabet: ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA



CAESAR
The Caesar cipher (or Caesar code) is a monoalphabetic substitution cipher, where each letter is replaced by another letter located a little further in the alphabet (therefore shifted but always the same for given cipher message). The shift distance is chosen by a number called the offset, which can be right (A to B) or left (B to A).

Encryption with Caesar code is based on an alphabet shift. The most commonly used shift/offset is by 3 letters.

Plain AlphabetABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZCaesar Alphabet (SHIFT OF 3)DEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZABC


RAILFENCE
The Rail Fence cipher (also called zigzag) is a transposition cipher consisting in writing a text in zig-zag and reading it in a straight line.

Rail Fence Encryption uses an integer for the number of levels of the zigzag

The encoded message is written in zig-zaglevels/floors.

Example: 


SUBSTITUTION CIPHER WITH KEY MONARCHBUTEFLY


An alphabetic substitution is a substitution cipher where the letters of the alphabet are replaced by others according to a 1-1 correspondence (a plain letter always corresponds to the same cipher letter).
This substitution is said to be monoalphabetic because it uses only one alphabet, this alphabet is said to be disordered.

*avoid letter repeats in the encrypted alphabet.

Alphabet: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
ENCODED ALPH. : MONARCHBUTEFLYDGIJKPQSVWXZ


ROT13

Rot-13(short for Rotation 13) is the name given to a mono-alphabetical substitution cipher which has the property of being reversible and very simple.

Combining the French/Latin alphabet of 26 letters and an offset of 13, Rot-13

Rot-13coding is popular because it is easily reversible, indeed, if it is applied twice, then the original message reappears.

From an alphabet, usually the classic 26-letter alphabet ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ, each letter is shifted by 13 positions in the English alphabet. The correspondence table is:

NORMAL ALPHABET: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
ENCODED ALPHABET: NOPQRSTUVWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLM

MORSE CODE


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−−··

/ is used for spaces between letters
// is used for spaces between words
 

0−−−−−
1·−−−−
2··−−−
3···−−
4····−
5·····
6−····
7−−···
8−−−··
9−−−−·

Willow_wonderful wrote:

4) Use online decoders! They're very practical and save a lot of time! We want you to learn about the logic of ciphers, you don't have to manually decrypt everything

I recommend cyberchef. It's pretty advanced, it's web-based, and its FOSS

DifferentDance8 wrote:

Willow_wonderful wrote:

4) Use online decoders! They're very practical and save a lot of time! We want you to learn about the logic of ciphers, you don't have to manually decrypt everything

I recommend cyberchef. It's pretty advanced, it's web-based, and its FOSS

Ooh okay i'll check it out! I usually use dcode.fr!
This topic is for a future activity in Mystery in SWC if you didn't know