For many years I've been interested in the ability of a human, without computer assistance, to create an encrypted message that is strong enough to withstand any level of computer analysis.
This interest turned into a hobby over the last twenty years, resulting in the design of ADFGVXst and the Linearly Conjugated Double Random Matrix Bifid Disrupted Incomplete Columnar Transposition, or RAMDICT, Ciphers, and some peripheral projects.
There are quite a few examples of hand-created ciphers that have foiled the best cryptanalysts to current day. The controversial Beale documents (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beale_ciphers), part four of the Kryptos sculpture by Jim Sanborn, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptos), the Blitz cipher which may be based in Sanskrit, the recent popular and strange Codex Seraphinianus consisting of a large volume of ciphertext, the Voynich Manuscript, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Voynich_Manuscript_(170).jpg), Bellaso's Ciphers (http://www.ciphermysteries.com/bellasos-ciphers), and others. See Figures below.
This interest turned into a hobby over the last twenty years, resulting in the design of ADFGVXst and the Linearly Conjugated Double Random Matrix Bifid Disrupted Incomplete Columnar Transposition, or RAMDICT, Ciphers, and some peripheral projects.
There are quite a few examples of hand-created ciphers that have foiled the best cryptanalysts to current day. The controversial Beale documents (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beale_ciphers), part four of the Kryptos sculpture by Jim Sanborn, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kryptos), the Blitz cipher which may be based in Sanskrit, the recent popular and strange Codex Seraphinianus consisting of a large volume of ciphertext, the Voynich Manuscript, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Voynich_Manuscript_(170).jpg), Bellaso's Ciphers (http://www.ciphermysteries.com/bellasos-ciphers), and others. See Figures below.
History shows us that there are three classes of undecipherable works. One, where tough ciphers have been used but the keys are lost or undiscovered and there is too small a sample of ciphertext to work with, and secondly, where easily breakable ciphers have been used but again the volume of ciphertext is too small and the keys have been lost or undiscovered. Finally, there is a class that stands by itself, where the only unbreakable cipher, the One-Time Pad, has been used and the keys are lost or destroyed.
The third category will never be decipherable, but hope exists, however dim, for the first two categories. In summary, the existence of these crypto puzzles proves that it's possible to design a hand-created cipher used with pencil and paper (without a computer) that is difficult or impossible for modern computerized cryptanalysis methods to break in a practical way.
By “a practical way,” I mean that the cipher itself may be breakable, but when broken, the results are so voluminous that it is impractical or impossible to find the true message.
Hand-created ciphers, or hand ciphers, are not usually suitable for the large volume of traffic imposed upon us by modern necessities, but for short non-repetitive messages of less than 170 characters where Key Isolation Methodology is employed, they can be quite practical and effective. (See white papers on this site.)
I recognize that it's a strong counterpoint to my hobby that the eminently practical One-Time Pad Cipher, unbreakable in it's pure form when implemented with a cryptographically acceptable random key, is simple, fast, and easy to use. And certainly I have synthesized a fast and easy method for it's use from the existing work publicly available today. But this has not deterred me from turning thoughts into actions in the pursuit of designing and creating strong hand operable ciphers that can resist up-to-date computer analysis.
I invite those of you who have an interest in this fascinating pursuit to submit your ideas to this page, recognizing when you do that while you may own the rights to your ideas, they are exposed to the vast wilderness of the Internet where no laws exist and no good ideas are left un-copied.
The comments section of this page is open for business. This is a hobby for me, so I'm somewhat limited in my time. However, I will occasionally respond to posts here.
In the meantime, you can learn more about me on my personal webpage or read about my work with Vadium here: http://wolfganghammersmith.webs.com/
The third category will never be decipherable, but hope exists, however dim, for the first two categories. In summary, the existence of these crypto puzzles proves that it's possible to design a hand-created cipher used with pencil and paper (without a computer) that is difficult or impossible for modern computerized cryptanalysis methods to break in a practical way.
By “a practical way,” I mean that the cipher itself may be breakable, but when broken, the results are so voluminous that it is impractical or impossible to find the true message.
Hand-created ciphers, or hand ciphers, are not usually suitable for the large volume of traffic imposed upon us by modern necessities, but for short non-repetitive messages of less than 170 characters where Key Isolation Methodology is employed, they can be quite practical and effective. (See white papers on this site.)
I recognize that it's a strong counterpoint to my hobby that the eminently practical One-Time Pad Cipher, unbreakable in it's pure form when implemented with a cryptographically acceptable random key, is simple, fast, and easy to use. And certainly I have synthesized a fast and easy method for it's use from the existing work publicly available today. But this has not deterred me from turning thoughts into actions in the pursuit of designing and creating strong hand operable ciphers that can resist up-to-date computer analysis.
I invite those of you who have an interest in this fascinating pursuit to submit your ideas to this page, recognizing when you do that while you may own the rights to your ideas, they are exposed to the vast wilderness of the Internet where no laws exist and no good ideas are left un-copied.
The comments section of this page is open for business. This is a hobby for me, so I'm somewhat limited in my time. However, I will occasionally respond to posts here.
In the meantime, you can learn more about me on my personal webpage or read about my work with Vadium here: http://wolfganghammersmith.webs.com/