Re: Breaking polyalphabetic cipher..

From: Joe Peschel (jpeschel@no.spam.org)
Date: 04/13/03 

From: Joe Peschel <jpeschel@no.spam.org>
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2003 02:45:19 -0000

"David Wilson" <davidallenwilson@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:v9haodtkj7of02@corp.supernews.com:

>> By the way, you really should check the "Bio" and "Stuff2" pages of
>> my web site before you suggest that I haven't studied Shakespeare.
> I stand corrected. Ironically, your link
> http://tech-two.mit.edu/Shakespeare/ is broken. (I'm sure a gentleman
> would chuckle at irony here.) Your picture is, well, "flattering".

Thanks for telling me about the broken link. I fixed it. I prefer to read
Shakespeare and Molière, Eliot and other poetry, and prose in book, not
electronic form. Being able to search on-line for a specific passage is,
however, on occasion, handy.

> However, I quickly digress...

Must perfume from a dress?

> In no way do I think that one must have weak mathematical skills in
> order to be a good cryptanalyst; these skills are essential.

I never claimed you said that.

> However, if cryptanalysis were strictly limited to mathematics, then
> the human element could theoretically be removed. We humans would
> actually be "less efficient" than the computer for cryptanalysis.
> However, as long as humans interact with each other through writing,
> speech, poetry, trade, literature, music, and as long as they share
> emotions together, and express things that are special with each
> other, I doubt if a computer, no matter how advanced, is going to be
> able to come along and simply "decrypt" a message created by humans,
> even if it has been "taught" some basic things first.

No real cryptanalyst would argue with you about the human element involved
in cryptanalysis. If you would read Gaines, Friedman, Kahn and others,
you'd already know this. Guys like Gwyn and Gillogly, I think, would also
agree that human intuition, reasoning, and luck, play an important part in
decrypting secrets. There is no need for you to pontificate what is already
obvious. Learning and practicing traditional techniques, however, is
essential if you expect to crack cipher messages.

Computers, however, can be a tremendous aid in solving ciphers, especially
the classical ones lately posted here. Although they can be and have been,
in some cases for centuries, solved by pencil and paper, many of these
classical ciphers can be solved without much human intervention; other
ciphers, say, reduced-round DES, require computer assistance.

> Let me give you a prime example.
> "Paul Revere, to sound an early warning to Concord . . . set up a
> system of signals with a sexton at Christ Church in Boston. The two
> lanterns went up in the windows of the church late on April 18, 1775 -
> the same day that the 'shot heard 'round the world' was fired in
> Lexington." OK people, run this into your computer programs...
>
> ONE IF BY LAND TWO IF BY SEA
> NE IF BY LAND TWO IF BY SEA O
> E IF BY LAND TWO IF BY SEA ON
> IF BY LAND TWO IF BY SEA ONE
> IF BY LAND TWO IF BY SEA ONE
> F BY LAND TWO IF BY SEA ONE I
> BY LAND TWO IF BY SEA ONE IF
> BY LAND TWO IF BY SEA ONE IF
>
> Hint: Light a lamp. England's coming.
>
> Now, will your computers be able to solve that? NO! Will the
> citizens of Lexington in April 18, 1775 understand this? YES!

Flip a bit: the British are coming.

If those folks owned computers on a network, that information could have
been conveyed in less than a byte: 1 bit by land, 2 if by sea. :-)

J 

-- 
__________________________________________
When will Bush come to his senses?
Joe Peschel 
D.O.E. SysWorks                                 
http://members.aol.com/jpeschel/index.htm
__________________________________________

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