The Fixed Points of the Columnar Transposition Cipher

Presentation Type

Oral and/or Visual Presentation

Presenter Major(s)

Mathematics, Economics

Mentor Information

Robert Talbert

Department

Mathematics

Location

Kirkhof Center 2259

Start Date

10-4-2013 12:00 AM

End Date

10-4-2013 12:00 AM

Keywords

Mathematical Science, Technology

Abstract

Encrypting a message scrambles it so that it is unreadable to outsiders. A columnar transposition cipher encrypts a message by writing the plaintext across a specific number of columns. Then, one reads down the columns to find the encrypted message. This project investigates the occurrence of characters that do not move when encrypted, and finds a constant time algorithm to determine these characters. We are also interested in maximizing the number of times that a message must be re-encrypted in order for the original text to be found. We look at how the number of columns and length of message affect both of these phenomena.

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Apr 10th, 12:00 AM Apr 10th, 12:00 AM

The Fixed Points of the Columnar Transposition Cipher

Kirkhof Center 2259

Encrypting a message scrambles it so that it is unreadable to outsiders. A columnar transposition cipher encrypts a message by writing the plaintext across a specific number of columns. Then, one reads down the columns to find the encrypted message. This project investigates the occurrence of characters that do not move when encrypted, and finds a constant time algorithm to determine these characters. We are also interested in maximizing the number of times that a message must be re-encrypted in order for the original text to be found. We look at how the number of columns and length of message affect both of these phenomena.