Cryptography
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Decoding and deciphering encoded messages requires lots of thought,
as well as trial and error. It’s fun to try and solve different puzzles.
In Our Story -
In Our Story -
Find the Hidden Message
Find the Hidden Message
As stated in the preface, there is a code hidden in the illustrations throughout the book "Chasing Vermeer". The code involves images of pentominoes and frogs, which are recurring themes throughout the book. To understand the code, one must count the number of frogs in every other illustration (counting from the first one) and find the hidden pentomino. The pentominoes and the quantity of frogs in the illustrations correspond to letter-number combinations in the code that Calder and Tommy use to write their letters throughout the book. For example, the first code sequence included in an illustration is represented by a hidden pentomino corresponding to the letter V, and two frogs. This means that the code sequence is V:2, referring to the letter T in Calder and Tommy's decoding key. When the entire message hidden in the book is sorted it spells out...
As stated in the preface, there is a code hidden in the illustrations throughout the book "Chasing Vermeer". The code involves images of pentominoes and frogs, which are recurring themes throughout the book. To understand the code, one must count the number of frogs in every other illustration (counting from the first one) and find the hidden pentomino. The pentominoes and the quantity of frogs in the illustrations correspond to letter-number combinations in the code that Calder and Tommy use to write their letters throughout the book. For example, the first code sequence included in an illustration is represented by a hidden pentomino corresponding to the letter V, and two frogs. This means that the code sequence is V:2, referring to the letter T in Calder and Tommy's decoding key. When the entire message hidden in the book is sorted it spells out...
Code Table
Here is the table for easy reference to help you decipher the letters that Calder receives from and sends to Tommy that pop up in our story.
Code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret.
Codes substitute arbitrary symbols—typically, letters or numbers—for the components of the original message.
You can make your own codes too!! To do cryptography, you will need a plain text message, a set of rules (algorithm) to encode your message, and a key to help decode your message. In some cases, you’ll can also specify the time during which the algorithm and keys are in effect. Here's a link to try some code making:
https://www.kidscodecs.com/how-to-create-crack-secret-codes-ciphers/
There are MANY different kinds of codes.. and then there are also ciphers. Let's explore...
Cryptography
Cryptography is the subject of encoding and decoding secret messages. It is the Art of creating codes. The process of taking a message and changing it so that only certain people can read it is known as encryption. Cryptology is the study of codes, both creating and solving them. Cryptanalysis is the art of surreptitiously revealing the contents of coded messages, breaking codes, that were not intended for you as a recipient.
Codes vs. Ciphers
A Code is a way of changing the message by replacing each word with another word that has a different meaning. ... Ciphers, on the other hand, convert the message by a rule, known only to the sender and recipient, which changes each individual letter (or sometimes groups of letters).
Codes
A code is a way of changing the message by replacing each word with another word that has a different meaning. For example, Using codes requires a codebook, which contains all such codewords. Considering the large number of words in most languages, this is normally quite a large book, making the use of codes rather cumbersome (it is a bit like a French dictionary, giving the translation to and from the codeword). So, although potentially hard to use, a simple code can be very effective, since even if the message is intercepted, they can be used so that the code reads as an innocent or unrelated topic.
Morse Code
Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called dots and dashes or dits and dahs. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, an inventor of the telegraph
Morse code is usually transmitted by on-off keying of an information-carrying medium such as electric current, radio waves, visible light, or sound waves.
International Morse Code, also known as Continental Morse Code, encodes the 26 English letters A through Z, some non-English letters, the Arabic numerals and a small set of punctuation and procedural signals. There is no distinction between upper and lower case letters. Each Morse code symbol is formed by a sequence of dots and dashes. The dot duration is the basic unit of time measurement in Morse code transmission. The duration of a dash is three times the duration of a dot. Each dot or dash within a character is followed by period of signal absence, called a space, equal to the dot duration. The letters of a word are separated by a space of duration equal to three dots, and the words are separated by a space equal to seven dots
Nautical Flags
1. Shapes and types are important.
1. Shapes and types are important.
Nautical flags mostly take the forms of squares, though you’ll also see pendants, which are triangular with a flat tip. You’ll additionally see what’s called substitutes (alternately called repeaters), which are triangles. Since this is a “flags 101” article, we’ll focus on the squares and pendants. They’re the ones you’re more likely to see in common boating situations.
2. Learn the letters and numbers.
2. Learn the letters and numbers.
There are 26 square nautical flags, each representing a different letter of the alphabet. More accurately, each represents the international code word connected to the letters of the alphabet, such as Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and so on. In addition, there are 10 pendants for the numbers zero through nine. For the numbers 10 and larger, a boat would combine flags.
3. Colors are by choice.
3. Colors are by choice.
The only colors you’ll find on nautical flags are black, blue, red, yellow, and white. These colors stand out quite well when seen with your own eyes on the horizon or through binoculars. Flags can be a solid color or a combination of colors, too.
4. Solo or combined, nautical flags convey meaning.
4. Solo or combined, nautical flags convey meaning.
Depending on the intended message, boats fly one flag or up to seven flags in a row.
For example, if you see the A (Alpha) flag, this means “diver down, keep clear.”
If you see the W (Whiskey) flag, the boat has a medical emergency and needs help.
The combination of the D (Delta) and V (Victor) flags, meanwhile, means “I’m maneuvering with difficulty and require assistance.”
The J (Juliet) and L (Lima) flags mean “you’re running the risk of going aground.”
In fact, signals with two nautical flags typically mean some type of distress or maneuvering issue. Three or more flags can include pendants and denote things like points of the compass, geographical signals, names of ships, time and position, as well as latitude and longitude.
5. Flags are sometimes exclusive or secret language.
5. Flags are sometimes exclusive or secret language.
While boaters around the world use nautical flags to communicate common scenarios, particular situations call for their own language. Race committees combine flags to convey a race is four minutes from start, for example, or that a course has been shortened. The U.S. Navy groups together signals in ways known only to its personnel to communicate with its fellow ships.
Anagrams
An anagram is a play on words created by rearranging the letters of the original word to make a new word or phrase. Anagram examples can be fun and witty, and they often end in hilarious results. You can often find examples of anagrams in everyday life. They can be seen in crossword puzzles and games such as Scrabble. Kids and adults can both enjoy the fun in creating anagrams by rearranging letters of words and phrases to make some thing new.
Anagrams are often longer words or phrases that don't necessarily mean anything until you decipher them or they can be simple words that create random new words that are not relevant.
TAR = RAT
ELBOW = BELOW
TASTE = STATE
NIGHT = THING
DUSTY = STUDY
A more creative way to use anagrams is to make them into something relevant to the original word.
LISTEN = SILENT
ASTRONOMER = MOON STARER
A GENTLEMAN = ELEGANT MAN
THE MORSE CODE = HERE COME THE DOTS
ELEVEN PLUS TWO = TWELVE PLUS ONE
Anagrams have been popular through the ages. They can be traced back to Ancient Greek and Biblical times. For example Plato and his followers thought that anagrams could unveil the word's hidden meanings. In the Middle Ages, scientists like Galileo coded their findings in anagrams until they were ready to reveal them.
Anagrams can also be found in both classic and modern literature. Many writers rearrange the letters of names or things to create new and interesting names for their characters. They can be found in works of Shakespeare or things like "Gulliver's Travels." Or you can find anagrams, too, in stories like "Harry Potter" or "The Series of Unfortunate Events." Keep an eye out during any reading.
Hieroglyphics
When no one is left who knows how to read a language, it becomes a secret code of its own. That’s exactly what happened with the Hieroglyphs of ancient Egypt. These beautiful, iconic characters baffled linguists for centuries, until Napoleon’s troops discovered the Rosetta Stone, which allowed scholars to match the hieroglyphs with known Greek words, giving us the key to understanding the language and culture of one of the greatest civilizations in history.
Ciphers
Ciphers, on the other hand, convert the message by a rule, known only to the sender and recipient, which changes each individual letter (or sometimes groups of letters). Ciphers, are significantly easier to use than codes, since the users only have to remember a specific algorithm (a mathematical word for process) to encrypt the message, and not a whole dictionary of codewords.
The major setback for ciphers compared to codes is that if someone finds a message that has been encrypted using a cipher, the output is almost certainly going to be a random string of letters or symbols, and as such the interceptor will know straight away that someone wanted to hide this message.
The Caesar Shift
Named after Julius Caesar, who used it to encode his military messages, the Caesar shift is as simple as a cipher gets. All you have to do is substitute each letter in the alphabet by shifting it right or left by a specific number of letters. Today, we can break this code in our sleep, but it took ancient codebreakers 800 years to learn how to crack it - and nearly another 800 years to come up with anything better.
Named after Julius Caesar, who used it to encode his military messages, the Caesar shift is as simple as a cipher gets. All you have to do is substitute each letter in the alphabet by shifting it right or left by a specific number of letters. Today, we can break this code in our sleep, but it took ancient codebreakers 800 years to learn how to crack it - and nearly another 800 years to come up with anything better.
Alberti's Disk
In 1467, architect Leon Battista Alberti described a curious device. It was a disk made up of two concentric rings: the outer ring engraved with a standard alphabet, and the inner ring, engraved with the same alphabet but written out of order. By rotating the inner ring and matching letters across the disk, a message could be enciphered, one letter at a time, in a fiendishly complex way.
Pigpen Cipher
Another popular system called a diagrammatic cipher, used by many children in school, substitutes symbols for letters instead of other letters. This system is, in essence, the same as the letter substitution system, but it's easier to remember than 26 randomly picked letters. It uses the tic-tac-toe boards and two X's as shown below.
Voynich Manuscript
Codes and Ciphers in World Wars
The military has used codes and ciphers for years, but the use and complexity of codes skyrocketed during World War I and II. Whether sent by telegraph, signal lights, messenger dog, carrier pigeon or early radio, messages were often sent in code to avoid secrets falling into the wrong hands.
Native American Heroes
Code talker, any of more than 400 Native American soldiers—including Assiniboine, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Choctaw, Comanche, Cree, Crow, Fox, Hopi, Kiowa, Menominee, Navajo, Ojibwa, Oneida, Osage, Pawnee, Sauk, Seminole, and Sioux men—who transmitted sensitive wartime messages by speaking their native languages, in effect using them as codes. In both World War I and World War II, but especially the latter, the code talkers provided U.S. forces with fast communications over open radio waves, knowing that the enemy was unable to break the code. By all accounts the service of the code talkers was crucial to winning World War II in the Pacific theatre.
Choctaw Code Talkers in WWI
It has been more than 90 years since the Choctaws of WWI volunteered their service to the United States and joined the Army to travel across the ocean to foreign land. Some of the Choctaw men were over-heard speaking their Native language in the midst of battlefields in France and an officer immediately had a brainstorm. Training the Choctaws to use their words as “code," they were placed strategically on front lines and at command posts so that messages could be transmitted without being understood by the enemy. Nineteen Choctaw men have been documented as being the first to use their own language as a “code” to transmit military messages.
Navajo Code Talkers
Every WWII combatant appreciated the need for an unbreakable code that would help them communicate while protecting their operational plans. The U.S. Marines knew where to find one: the Navajo Nation. Marine Corps leadership selected 29 Navajo men, the Navajo Code Talkers, who created a code based on the complex, unwritten Navajo language. The code primarily used word association by assigning a Navajo word to key phrases and military tactics. This system enabled the Code Talkers to translate three lines of English in 20 seconds, not 30 minutes as was common with existing code-breaking machines. The Code Talkers participated in every major Marine operation in the Pacific theater, giving the Marines a critical advantage throughout the war. During the nearly month-long battle for Iwo Jima, for example, six Navajo Code Talker Marines successfully transmitted more than 800 messages without error. Marine leadership noted after the battle that the Code Talkers were critical to the victory at Iwo Jima. At the end of the war, the Navajo Code remained unbroken.
World War II
To begin with, Nazi Germany actually had the advantage when it came to intelligence and code-breaking for the early part of the war because Britain's own communication security was so poor. To make sure the enemy wouldn't know what was being said, people used coded messages. This involved taking a readable message and turning it into an unbreakable code. This ensured that messages could be sent safely to other allies, the countries who were working together to stop the Nazis.
Enigma
The Enigma story began in the 1920s, when the German military - using an 'Enigma' machine developed for the business market – began to communicate in unintelligible coded messages. The Enigma machine enabled its operator to type a message, then 'scramble' it using a letter substitution system, generated by variable rotors and an electric circuit. To decode the message, the recipient needed to know the exact settings of the wheels. German code experts added new plugs, circuits and features to the machine during the pre-war years, but its basic principle remained the same.
Bletchly
During World War II, Germany believed that its secret codes for radio messages were indecipherable to the Allies. ... However, the meticulous work of code breakers based at Britain's Bletchley Park cracked the secrets of German wartime communication, and played a crucial role in the final defeat of Germany.
Bletchley Park was the centre of British code-breaking during the war. Women were initially brought into Bletchley Park to provide administrative support. However, as the war advanced, women were increasingly recruited for their linguistics, physics and mathematical ability. Critically, women went from having their intellect dismissed, to ultimately playing a key role in code-breaking. Before the invention of electronic computers, “computer” was a job description, not a machine. Both men and women were employed as computers, but women were more prominent in the field.
"Code Girls" of the U.S. Navy
Thousands of talented women were secretly recruited and trained during the war to become code breakers for the US Army and Navy. Working tirelessly at two codebreaking centers in the DC area, these women cracked code that provided critical intelligence information in the European and Pacific Theaters.
Coding in Games
Some of you have done coding during Library in Elementary School and some of you have done it at Broad Rock during Robotics. Coding runs games but also there are online games you can find to practice coding or board games too to play.
CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO PLAY MASTERMIND https://www.archimedes-lab.org/mastermind.html
Video game creators sometimes refer to their chosen code as "the engine" that makes the game run. This code will make the billions of instant calculations needed to make a character fly, run or use a weapon. It will network with other computers and keep the environment running, along with sound effects and musical score.
Minecraft
The coding language that Minecraft uses is Java. Minecraft uses a simplistic 1×1 block structure to makes up the worlds and objects. It’s very easy to translate these into a programming language made up of 1’s and 0’s that dictate what the program does and how it runs.
This binary language can then be communicated to the computer through lines of coding. Understanding the basics of coding is an incredibly useful skill to have.
In today’s digital age, coding is more popular than ever. It’s a highly applicable skill that can be used both creatively and in terms of a future career. From creating websites to fully functioning video games, coding is the building blocks of technology; including this very webpage and the computer, device or phone that you are accessing it on.
Job Opportunities in Coding
The path to a career in cryptography begins with a bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, or related field. Coursework develops foundational knowledge and skills in mathematics, computer and information technology systems, and programming languages.
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