First it was Da Vinci Code, the book. Now it’s Da Vinci Code, the movie. Author Dan Brown’s enigmatic piece of literature, some say it isn’t, has created more buzz than any paperback in recent history. But, where it has helped promote the cause of reading and sent legions of curiosity seekers to the book shops, it has also opened the doors of endless debate due to its controversial subject. But that’s not what we are here to discuss about.
Other than religious, mediaeval and renaissance history, the Da Vinci Code saga has also invoked an interest in the field of code-breaking and secret messages. Being able to keep the message hidden while it is still in front of you is an art that has been practised for centuries. Rest assured it’s nothing recent; the art of keeping messages hidden has been there since there has been war. Julius Creaser made good use of it in his campaigns.
And one of the places on the Internet to learn more about this is the site, Black Chamber http://www.simonsingh.net/The_Black_Chamber/home.html. Maintained by Simon Jones, an expert in the field of science and mathematics, the site is where you can learn about codes and code-breaking, encrypt your own messages, crack those of your enemies, and play with interactive enciphering programmes. Then go on to learn about the Black Chambers, special rooms that have for centuries been operated by nations in an attempt to decode the messages being sent by their rivals. The French operated the Cabinet Noir, in Vienna the Geheime Kabinets-Kanzlei was the home of Austria’s greatest code-breakers, and in Britain there was Room 40 and then Bletchley Park. History and science converge here.
Another interesting site to visit is the Cryptography Archives http://www.murky. org/archives/cryptography/ where information on coding systems and espionage are present. But the best of all are the puzzles that really beguile you. Sit down and spend hours trying to break the code, or simply solve the mystery of the jumbled numbers or alphabets here.
Then there is the Codes, Ciphers & Codebreaking http://www.darkmattermag.com/October2003/dark_science.html, a site where you can learn about different types of encryption and discover the secret messages. Spread over six pages, this link is a whole lot of reading.
Furthering the cause of the science of cryptology is the International Association for Cryptologic Research http://www.iacr.org/. A non-profit scientific organization whose purpose is to further research in cryptology and related fields, the IACR site has links to conference, workshops, reading material like journals and other papers and the latest symposiums.
Where code making has been at the forefront of any war or secret operation, efforts to break it too are no less important. Here the most important operation of World War II was deciphering the Enigma Cipher Machine http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/enigma/index.htm the German encryption machine that was vital to its war efforts. This site takes you through the problems that were faced by the Allied code breakers who knew that in order to defeat the Germans, the Enigma had to be broken. The mechanics of the machine itself are discussed here.
One of the main problems with simple substitution ciphers is that they are so vulnerable to frequency analysis. Given a sufficiently large ciphertext, it can easily be broken by mapping the frequency of its letters to the know frequencies of, say, English text. Therefore, to make ciphers more secure, cryptographers have long been interested in developing enciphering techniques that are immune to frequency analysis. One of the most common approaches is to suppress the normal frequency data by using more than one alphabet to encrypt the message.
A polyalphabetic substitution cipher involves the use of two or more cipher alphabets. Instead of there being a one-to-one relationship between each letter and its substitute, there is a one-to-many relationship between each letter and its substitutes. The Vigenere Cipher, proposed by Blaise de Vigenere from the court of Henry III of France in the sixteenth century is the center of discussion at the Vigenere Cipher http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/cpsc/cryptography/vigenere.html.
And in the end, the Cryptology Tutorial http://www.antilles.k12. vi.us/math/cryptotut/home.htm where they ask the simplest of things in the best of ways — have you ever wondered why you can place your credit card number on Amazon’s web page to pay online and no eavesdropper (believe me there are many out there) could exploit it? Do you want to know how the British cracked the fantastic ENIGMA machine of the Germans in World War II? Have you ever wondered how you can keep your secrets on a computer for yourself although people may try very hard to find out?
The world of secret messages is evolving from one that was used to supply messages with the help of pigeons and on paper, to one that is online and using encryption that is also possibly available on your computer right now. Still, it would be wise not to get involved in the whole message encryption business if you don’t have to. Rather tiring, don’t you think?
First it was Da Vinci Code, the book. Now it’s Da Vinci Code, the movie. Author Dan Brown’s enigmatic piece of literature, some say it isn’t, has created more buzz than any paperback in recent history. But, where it has helped promote the cause of reading and sent legions of curiosity seekers to the book shops, it has also opened the doors of endless debate due to its controversial subject. But that’s not what we are here to discuss about.
A polyalphabetic substitution cipher involves the use of two or more cipher alphabets. Instead of there being a one-to-one relationship between each letter and its substitute, there is a one-to-many relationship between each letter and its substitutes. The Vigenere Cipher, proposed by Blaise de Vigenere from the court of Henry III of France in the sixteenth century is the center of discussion at the Vigenere Cipher http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/cpsc/cryptography/vigenere.html.
