Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

Making and breaking codes: Cryptology

Introduction: Students will learn how to write and read secret messages using modular arithmetic,
or “clock math,” explore decryption with frequency analysis, and get a brief introduction to public
key encryption. They will practice sending each other messages with each method, as well as answer
questions like “how can you read a message without knowing the code?” and “how can you share a
code without other people being able to read the message?”

Content Objectives:
• Students will understand how math helps encrypt and decrypt messages. Specifically, the will
look at modular arithmetic for both encryption and decryption, and frequency analysis to break
codes.
• Students will know what are cryptography, cryptanalysis, and cryptology.
• Students will know what modular arithmetic is and how to us addition to encrypt messages.
• Students will know how to read basic Arduino code.
• Students will be able to write and decrypt messages using modular addition and frequency
analysis.
• Students will be able to read basic Arduino code and use it to hack a locked Arduino.
Acknowledgements: These notes were written by Claire Merriman for use in the Summer 2016
Summer Illinois Math Camp Epsilon, along with Hannah Burson and Michelle Seat. Day 3 activities
were developed in collaboration with the Champaign-Urbana Community FabLab, in particular,
Colten Jackson, Tanya Josek, and Virginia McCreary.
Funding for the 2016 Summer Illinois Math Camp was provided by the Office of Public Engagement,
University of Illinois for a Public Engagement Grant; Department of Mathematics, University of Illi-
nois; Illinois Geometry Lab, University of Illinois; Association for Women in Mathematics, University
of Illinois; Dolciani Mathematics Enrichment Grant, Mathematical Association of America; and the
National Science Foundation, Grant Number DMS-1449269.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those
of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This
material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Number
DMS-1449269.

Page 1
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

Contents
1 Intro to Cryptology/Modular Arithmetic 2
1.1 Lesson Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2 Reflections: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2 Hack your Pokémon: locked boxes, brute force, counting and coding 8
2.1 Lesson Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2 Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3 Codes and Counting 14

3.1 Lesson Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.2 Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

4 Decryption practice and Skittle Key Cryptography 18

4.1 Lesson Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.2 Reflections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

5 Appendix 24
5.1 Intro to Cryptology/Modular Arithmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
5.2 Hack your Pokémon: locked boxes, brute force, counting and coding . . . . . . . . . . 34
5.3 Frequency analyisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5.4 Decryption practice and Skittle Key Cryptography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

1 Intro to Cryptology/Modular Arithmetic

Central focus: The goal of this lesson is to introduce and establish the history and modular
arithmetic behind cryptology.
Objectives: Students will
• Be able to define cryptology in their own words, including its usefulness in the real world.
• Be able to do “clock math” in a chart and in congruency modn situations.
• Draw connection from the “clock math” model to the Caesar shifts model.
Materials:
• Tape measure
• Cipher wheels
• Modular arithmetic and encryption decryption practice worksheets
• Alphabet chart

Page 2
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

1.1 Lesson Notes

Agenda

Time Activity Instructor TA Students

10 min Motivation/Hook, Ask questions Record answers Think of answers,
introduction take notes on defini-
tion
15 min Intro to clock Ask questions main- Lead explanation Take notes, answer
math tain focus questions
10 min Theorem and Explain proof Maintain focus Take notes, ask ques-
proof tions
30 min Break Prep for after break Supervise students Relax, have fun
10 min Intro to mod Maintain focus Explain chart Take notes
chart
30 min Worksheet 1 Guide students to an- Guide students to an- Work in groups
swers swers
30 min Break Prep for after break Supervise students Relax, have fun
15 min Intro to cryptol- Explain definitions, Write definitions, Take notes, ask ques-
ogy using wheels demonstrate wheel tions
20 min Worksheet 2 Guide students to an- Guide students to an- Work in groups
swers swers

Lesson Plan

Motivation/Hook: Ask: What is Cryptology? “Does anyone have and guesses?”

Definition. Cryptology is the study of sending an intelligible message converted into an unintelligible
or secret form AND the means of analysis which allow you to get back the original message. i.e.
making and breaking codes.
Ask: Why is cryptology useful?
• Internet commerce (credit cards/banking information)
• Calling plays in sports games (wrist bands on each player in UI Softball)
• Ghostery application where it hinds your location while you are online.
Simply put it is useful in hiding information while sending information.
Transition: there is some useful math behind cryptology!
Introduction to clock math: You use this sort of math every day and don’t realize it.

Page 3
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

Example 1
• If it is 1:30 now, what time is it in 2 hours?
• So 3:30, what time is it in 45 minutes?
• 4:15, what time is it in 9 hours? 1:15
• How long until its 2:30?

This is actually using modular arithmetic! We all did modular arithmetic just in our heads. We
would call this math in “mod 12” for the hours and “mod 60” for the minutes.
For emphasis: Modular Arithmetic is as if you have taken the number line and wrapped it up, over
itself. Like this tape measure. If I wrap this tape measure to be “mod 12” once you get to 13 you
get back 1, once you get 14 you get 2, and so on.
—-*Draw the Modular Arithmetic Clock Demo”*—– (including negatives)
The modular clock demo shows that you can write numbers 1 to n around a clock, then continue
another circle n + 1 to 2n outside and −n − 1 to 0 on the inside. An example can be seen below.
Can also write 0 to n − 1 to be consistent with the standard representations instead of consistent
with clocks.

14

7
0

13 8
6 -1 -6 1

12 -2 -5 9
5 2

-3 -4

4 3
11 10

This arithmetic can be represented in multiple ways. Algebraically we use congruence modn.

Page 4
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

Definition. Two numbers are congruent modulo n if n | (x − y). Meaning n divides (x − y).
Example 2
1. 5 ≡ 8 mod 3 Elaborate: 5 ≡ 11 mod 3 also 5 ≡ 14 mod 3 and so on.
Show 3 | (8 − 5), that is, 8 − 5 = 3, and 3/3 = 1
2. 17 ≡ 5 mod 3 Elaborate if needed!! 3 | (17 − 5), 3 | 12 check!
3. 9 ≡ 9 mod 11 This one seems a little tricky but is still true. 11 | (9 − 9), because you can
divide 0 by any number.

This leads us to establish some important properties in modular arithmetic that can be expressed
using this notation.
Theorem and Proof
Theorem. Pick a whole number n > 0 and let w, x, y, z be some integers. Then
1. x ≡ x mod n.
2. If x ≡ y mod n, then y ≡ x mod n.
3. If x ≡ y mod n and y ≡ x mod n, then x ≡ z mod n.
4. If x ≡ y mod n, then xz = yz mod n.
5. If x ≡ y mod n, w ≡ z mod n, then x + w ≡ y + z mod n and xw ≡ yz mod n.

Proof. 1. Let x be any integer. Then, x − x = 0 which is divisible by any non-zero integer. Thus,
x − x mod n.
2. Suppose x ≡ y mod n, thus n | (x − y). That is, there some number k where x − y = kn. Since
y − x = −kn, n | (y − x). Therefore, y ≡ x mod n.
3. Assume that x ≡ y mod n and y ≡ z mod n. Then, there exist k, m ∈ Z with x − y =
kn, y − z = mn. Combining these two equations, we get x − y + y − z = kn + mn, and thus
x − z = (k + m)n, so x ≡ z mod n.
4. Let x ≡ y mod n. That is, there exists k ∈ Z such that x − y = kn, so (kz)n = (x − y)z =
xz − yz. Thus, xz ≡ yz mod n.
5. Let x ≡ y mod n, w ≡ z mod n, then there exist k, m ∈ Z such that x − y = kn, w − z = mn.
Adding these equations we get (x + w) − (y + z) = x − y + w − z = kn − mn = (k − m)n.
Applying (4)we get xw − yw mod n and yw ≡ yz mod n, so by (3), xw ≡ yw mod n.

This is largely to show that we can actually prove mathematical facts and use them later. This is
where we inserted true false questions to check for understanding.
—-BREAK—-

Page 5
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

Using a chart: Another way to display the same information is with a chart.
In the following chart, we will replace 5 with 0 to be closer to math conventions. This is because we
can also think of mods as the remainder from division.
+5 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 0 1
2 3 4 0 1 2
3 4 0 1 2 3
4 0 1 2 3 4
5 1 2 3 4 0
×5 0 1 2 3 4
0 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 1 2 3 4
2 0 2 4 1 3
3 0 3 1 4 2
4 0 4 3 2 1
This is a good place to pass out the modular arithmetic handout.
—-BREAK—-
How “Clock Math” corresponds to Cryptology: First let’s establish a few definitions.
Definition. A code is a system that substitutes prescribed sets of characters for other sets of char-
acters. To encode a message is to replace its elements by a different combination of characters or
figures.
Example 3
you may have agreed that each occurrence of the word “dog” will be replaced with “purple.”
Definition. A cipher is a system where individual letters are replaced by other letters, either indi-
vidually or in blocks.
One famous example is the cipher Julius Caesar used to send letters to his army. He would take each
letter and replace it with the one three places later in the alphabet. Here we say that the original
message is the plaintext, the message that gets passed to the troops is the “ciphertext,” and the key
is k=3, since you shift forward 3 letters in the alphabet. One way to do this is to use a cipher wheel,
such as this one:
***Hand out cipher wheels****(and scissors and brads if necessary)
Do an example with an additive cipher along with the class. It is probably best to start with plaintext
and help them convert to ciphertext.
Ask: Does this seem similar to anything we have already seen???
—-“The Modular Arithmetic Clock” or “Clock Math.” So clock math is like using an additive cipher.
But we can use other ciphers with additive inverse, multiplicative and affine keys. (next available

Page 6
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

day)
Definition. additive inverse of a number x is a number y with x+y=0.
In the integers, the additive inverse of x is -x. We can extend this idea to mod n as well.
Example 4
−2 ≡ 3 mod 5
−1 ≡ 7 mod 8

Pass out encryption and decryption practice worksheet

Closure: Now we hope you have enjoyed learning a little bit about what it is to study cryptology.
Tomorrow we will be working with computers to introduce the combinatorics, the counting behind
cryptology. But for now, time for lunch!

1.2 Reflections:

Intro went well, got better definitions than expecting, great examples, pretty enthusiastic until proofs.
They were able to give pretty good definitions for cryptography and cryptanalysis that we could put
together for the definition of cryptology. This also gave a good way to introduce that we are doing
both encryption and decryption.
The time activity worked well. Demonstrating with a tape measure seemed really cool, since I think
of mod 1 as the R/Z or R as the universal cover of S 1 , but this did not seem to be super enlightening
for the students. Drawing the clock definitely helped a lot of the students, so I introduced congruency
classes.
Definitely need to introduce the fact that the representative of the congruency class of x mod n is
the remainder of division of x by n. None of them really seemed to use this definition, but it does
justify why we use 0 instead of n. It would be beneficial to have the three methods/descriptions all
in a row for the same example thus giving them multiple representations.
Did not do proofs the way they were written, since that is for an audience that is learning about
proofs, and instead made sure they can follow the algebra, since not all have had algebra 1. I
did explain factor/divides and that mods are the remainder from division before the proofs. . It is
important to use the same wording used in the definition in the proof and decide that precise wording
before the lesson. I also did not do number 5, but should probably add in x + z, y + z before the
multiplication. It might also help to introduce the idea of congruence classes with the clocks and
reiterate from the beginning that there are infinitely numbers in a class, but it?s normally easiest to
work with the smallest.
We added in some true/false examples after proofs to get them talking, working together and to
check for understanding. We also drew mod 5 addition and multiplication charts and explained how
to compute them and read them.
Before passing out second worksheet, do an example of how to encrypt with a given key and how
to read the cipher wheels. It’s probably good to walk through an example where you have a word,

Page 7
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

then numbers, then add the key, then back to letters, to emphasize the math. There was a lot of
confusion about how to read the directions and wheels. Also, start with an example that has real
words, since that confused a lot of them.
This day was also reflected by students as being very “worksheet heavy” and potentially tedious.
There may be a way to make one or two of the worksheets into a group activity instead?not so that
the work gets split up but that student start the week working together and don?t feel like they are
doing just busy work.

2 Hack your Pokémon: locked boxes, brute force, counting and coding

Central focus:
Objectives: Students will
• Understand how the number of possible passwords grows with the number of allowed characters
and password length
• See how brute force attacks can take a long time, even aided by computers
• Get a brief introduction to coding
• Understand how to count the number of possible passwords of a given length
Materials:
• Cryptography boxes from the FabLab
• Codes from the code folder/appendix
• 2 Arduinos per cryptography box
• 4 jumper cables per cryptography box
• Battery and connector for first Arduino, cable to connect second Arduino to computer
• Computer for each box
• Arduino program installed on each computer (https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/Software)
• Google Presentation (tinyurl.com/hackpokemon)( pdf)
• Physical keys from FabLab or follow their guide to create them (goo.gl/fJk2Au)(pdf)
• Tokens/prizes

Page 8
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

2.1 Lesson Notes

Agenda

Time Activity Instructor TA Students

5 min Motivation/hook Ask questions Maintain focus Answer questions
5 min Box activity 1 Explain activity, help Pass out boxes, help Test possible combi-
students think of way students think of way nations
to systematically test to systematically test
combinations combinations
15 min Intro to counting Draw counting tree Maintain focus Take notes, ask ques-
explain solutions tions
15 min Passwords Lead discussion Contribute info Contribute info
20 min Physical keys Distribute keys ex- Help find correct key Find correct key, un-
plain activity lock box, collect prize
30 min Break Prep for after break Supervise students Relax, have fun
10 min Password break- Lead discussion Contribute info Contribute info
ing and ethics
35 min Arduino Blink Walk through loading Maintain focus, an- Load blink, read and
blink, reading code swer questions, trou- edit code
bleshoot
20 min Brute force pass- Intro to brute force, Answer questions, Load code, ask ques-
word breaking help load code troubleshoot tions, record times
10 min Wrap up Summarize lesson Maintain focus Contribute to wrap
up

Set Up

Make sure all computers will work with Arduino.

Before the students get there, the boxes need to be set up.
1. Plug in Servo: red = 5V, brown = GND, Orange = A0 (analog zero), plug in Arduino to
computer. In the arduino program, Select Arduino Uno/Genuino BOARD, and the right PORT
2. Open, then load “Servo Setup - sets to 90 degrees pin A0 1.0” code. (this moves the servo to
90 degrees)
3. When the servo stopped moving, attach the horn/arm/white thingy to the “open” position
(along the blue servo box, parallel to the ground, not up or down)
Now servo horn is in the right location!
4. Place token in box
5. Load crypto “Lock 3bit and 8bit” to lock box

Page 9
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

A jumper cable from A5 to GND will put the box in 3 bit/toggle switch mode, removing this cable
and resetting the Arduino with put it in “challenge mode” for the physical keys.

Lesson Plan

Motivation/hook: Why would you want a lock? What about a password? Can you think of locks
that use passwords, mechanical or digital?
Box activity 1: Instructions to students:
We are going to give you a locked box. There is a little lever sticking out of the top that prevents it
from sliding. Do not break anything. DO NOT TOUCH THE LEVER.
You will need to attach the battery to the box before it will work.
There are 3 switches on the side, you have to have each switch in the correct position to make the
lever move and unlock the box. Once you get the right code, write it on the board and your name
next to it. If your code is already on the board, just write your name next to it.
Have each student go to a computer with an Arduino, attach the battery, and try combinations.
They might want to keep track of their trials on paper.
Introduction to counting: How many options were there for passwords? We can count using a
tree.
Box

0 1
0 1 0 1
0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
By counting the number of options in the bottom row, we get 8 options.
Students seemed to have seen this before, so we did not spend much time on it, but in general, you
multiply together the number of options you have for each spot. So if the first spot have 5 options
and the second spot has 4 options, the two together have 5 ∗ 4 options.
For each position, there were 2 options, so there were 2 ∗ 2 ∗ 2 = 8 total passwords.
What if we had 4 switches? 5 switches?
4 switches is 16 options, 5 switches is 32 options
If you use digits instead of numbers, each position has 10 options. An iPhone password is 4 digits,
how many options are there?
10,000
What if we also allow letters? How many ways can you have a 3 letter or number password, no
capitalization?
36 ∗ 36 ∗ 36 = 46, 656

Page 10
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

Transition:The number of options grows really quickly if you allow longer passwords, more charac-
ters. Numbers are big, computers are fast, but it is faster if you have a list of likely possibilities to
check first such as common passwords and patterns.
Passwords: There are a lot of ways to reduce the number of passwords you check.
https://wpengine.com/unmasked/ has a lot of information about common passwords and password
patterns. This is also included in the appendix, although new analysis comes out periodically and
can be found on popular websites, warning people their passwords are not safe.
Common passwords:
1. qwerty
2. 123456
3. qwertyuiop
4. 123456789
5. password
6. 12345678
7. 12345
8. 111111
9. 1qaz2wsx
10. qwe123
Physical Keys: Have students remove the jumper cable that runs from A5 to GND and press reset.
This should relock the box.
There are four different physical keys and the code randomizes which one unlocks the box. Students
need to find which of the physical keys unlocks their box. Divide the students into groups and give
each group a copy of each key. When the student gets the box unlocked, they can remove the token
and claim a prize.
—-BREAK—-
Password breaking and ethics: What are some reasons that you might want to break a lock?
• Lose your key
• Forgot your password
• Found a phone and need to find its owner
• Trying to help someone who had some sort of accident and need to get contact information off
their phone
Arduino Blink: Have students open Arduino on their computers and open the blink program.
The presentation works through how the code works on slides 16-20 in the attached version, but most

Page 11
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

of the information is included here. Have the students plug in their Arduinos and upload blink, so
that they can see it work, before reading through the code.
1. Header
• Things that are always true (in the program)
• Header can contain three types of statement.
(a) Comments
• These are in gray. They are just for the humans! They help the person reading the
code understand it. Write lots of comments in your code, future you will thank past
you! They can be a block of text between a /* and a */ or a line starting with a //
Both are shown below.
(b) Declarations
• This is where we set up Variables we will want to use later in the program. A variable
can be thought of as a tiny file that has a type, a name, and something stored in it.
To create a new variable(or ?file?) you list the type, the name and store a value in it.
For example: int led=13;
• This statement creates a new integer Variable (or ’file’) that contains the number 13.
Now we can write ‘led’ somewhere in the code and know that when the arduino sees
it it will go retrieve the value 13. And just like a normal file it will remain a 13 unless
we overwrite it with another value.
(c) Include Statements
• We don’t need one of these yet but it’s a way to include code from someone else. And
an include statement looks something like this: #include <FileToInclude.h>
2. Setup
• The Setup just runs once at the beginning and gives us a chance to set things up before
the never ending loop. It’s really well named.
• We only have one line of code inside our setup: pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
• Lets figure out what it does:
(a) pinMode is a function that tells the Arduino how we want to use one of its output pins.
i. We programing folks will google functions we don’t know. :) Try: http://arduino.cc/en/Refere
and look up “pinMode()”
ii. or just google: “pinMode arduino.” The first result is usually at arduino.cc
(b) So in this example we know that led currently has the value 13. So this code is going
to set pin 13 to be an output. Making a pin an output means we can apply a voltage,
or not, to anything outside hooked up to the pin.

Page 12
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

(c) Since the Arduino has an LED on the board that is wired up to pin 13 this means we
will now be setup to be able to apply a voltage to that LED ,or not apply a voltage,
and thus turn that led on or off.
3. The Loop
(a) The loop runs forever! The Arduino will run each line of code starting from the top, one
at a time. Whenever your Arduino reached the end of the loop code it will jump back to
the start.
i. The first thing we see is the digitalWrite function. Which we know nothing about... so
lets look it up! Back to http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/
ii. digitalWrite Writes a HIGH or a LOW value to a digital pin. If the pin has been
configured as an OUTPUT with pinMode(), its voltage will be set to the corresponding
value: 5V (or 3.3V on 3.3V boards) for HIGH, 0V (ground) for LOW.
iii. Next let’s look up delay.
iv. delay Pauses the program for the amount of time (in milliseconds) specified as param-
eter. (There are 1000 milliseconds in a second.)
(b) So remember we already know what the program does, because we ran it! It blinks an
LED! So let’s read through the loop code and see if we understand why?
Students can then hack the code, changing the delay time to change the how fast it blinks. This
gives them a good idea of how to ready and edit code, instead of just uploading existing code.
Brute Force password breaking: When we guessed the password with the switches, we were
using brute force. That is, we just guessed each password until it worked. For longer passwords, we
can use a computer to do that.
The Brute Force 1.1 code creates random 8 bit, 16 bit, and 32 bit passwords, then guesses the code
and prints out how long it took to guess. Have students load this code, then write on the board how
long it took their computer to guess the 8 bit and 16 bit code. It is likely no one will have the 32 bit
code done. Use this to reiterate the exponential growth.

2.2 Reflections

We largely followed the FabLab’s lead on this project. The night before, we put a box at each
computer, then had the campers sit at the tables for the intro section. This definitely helped with
focus, and made the toggle switch activity really fast. Campers were able to very quickly come up
with examples of physical and digital locks, as well as good examples of security and good reasons
for breaking a codes or breaking past a security.
The tree was very useful for counting, definitely should have made them all draw it out for the
examples. Most had seen it before, but it certainly helped those who hadn’t.

Page 13
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

The actual cracking of the codes for the boxes went pretty well, it would be good to add a slide with
the directions, as well as a pre-drawn grid for the codes that work with their names listed, since that
got pretty chaotic. It should have a bunch of rows so as to not give away the number of solutions.
The physical key activity was not written up. Each Arduino and box was set up to run off of a
battery, with a jumper cable that could be removed to change the Arduino setting. The three cables
that ran from the servo motor to the Arduino were one color (which changed from box to box) and
the jumper cable was blue. When campers removed the jumper cable and pressed reset, the Arduino
stopped running the code for the toggle switches, and started running the code that works with
physical keys. There were 3 copies of each of the 4 physical keys. Students were confused about this,
since there were only 2 key patterns. We should tie ribbons or something to make them distinctive,
as well as create a slide explaining the activity. Students were to find the key that unlocked their
box, then they could remove the token from their box and get a prize. May also be good to get token
and then the prize at the end.
We moved the discussion of ethics and hacking to before the coding. The students really got into
this part of the lesson.
It would be good to have an extra activity prepared for the students who already know some coding,
since they got bored easily. Also, some kids got frustrated really quickly, so it is good to have a lot
of people who can answer coding questions. If the activity is to be run outside of FabLab, make sure
to check that the Arduino works with each of the computers, since a few had issues not supplying
enough power to the USB port, and a few others would not run without admin privileges.

3 Codes and Counting

Central focus: The goal of this lesson is to give students practice encrypting and decrypting
messages using various cryptanalysis tools.
Objectives: Students will
• Learn how to use frequency analysis to decrease the number of possible encryption schemes that
they need to check
• Practice encrypting a message using modular arithmetic and the aid of a chart or wheel
• Practice decrypting a message where they do not know the encryption scheme
Materials:
• Letter and digraph frequency chart
• Mod 26 multiplication chart
• Alphabet chart from day 1
• Cipher wheels from day 1
• Frequency analysis practice worksheet

Page 14
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

• Cryptanalysis presentation

3.1 Lesson Notes

Agenda

Time Activity Instructor TA Students

5 min Motivation/Hook Introduce topic Maintain focus Listen
25 min Review of modu- Brief review, give re- Maintain focus, an- Take notes, answer
lar arithemtic view problems swer questions questions
15 min Review of count- Brief review, give re- Maintain focus, an- Take notes, answer
ing view problems swer questions questions
30 min Break Prep for after break Supervise students Relax, have fun
10 min Introduction Introduce topic Maintain focus Listen
to frequency
analysis
30 min Frequency analy- Guide students to an- Guide students to an- Work in groups
sis practice work- swers swers
sheet
30 min Break Prep for after break Supervise students Relax, have fun
5 min Encryption Review, give review Maintain focus, an- Take notes, answer
Review Brief problems swer questions questions
30 min Encryption prac- Introduce activity, Check messages, col- Come up with and en-
tice check messages lect messages crypt short message

Lesson Plan

Motivation/Hook: We have looked at the math behind encryption, now we will see the math
behind decryption and get practice making and breaking codes.

Lesson Procedure:

Review of modular arithemtic: Begin with a review of modular arithmetic.

Definition. Two numbers x and y are congruent modn if you can divide x − y by n and get an
integer.
This is the same as numbers having the same remainder when divided by n. Students can check this
with division or using the clock, which tells you if two number are the same congruence class.
Have students work the example problems on their whiteboards in groups. Make sure that they are
working together and comfortable explaining the solution. This is a good place to emphasize there
are multiple ways to solve the problems and multiple correct answers.

Page 15
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

Have students write the true statements and correct the false statements on their whiteboards in
groups.
• If x ≡ 7 mod 14, then 7 ≡ x mod 14
• If 4 ≡ 13 mod 9, then 8 ≡ 20 mod 9
• If 4 ≡ 16 mod n, then 4 ≡ n mod 16
The first is true. For the second, they can correct it several ways, including 8 ≡ 26 mod 9 and
8 ≡ 17 mod 9. There are many ways to fix the third, including changing n to 12, changing the
second statement to 16 ≡ 4 mod n, 4 ≡ 4 mod n, 16 ≡ 16 mod n, or changing the first statement
to n ≡ 4 mod 9, ect.
Review of counting: Have students answer the following problems on their whiteboards in groups.
Make sure that they can explain their answer.
• Say you have three pairs of shorts- one yellow, one blue, and one white, and four shirts-one red,
one green, one black, and one blue. How many outfits can you make?
• Each card in the Set deck has 4 attributes-color, shading, number and shape. There are 3
options for each attribute. How many cards are there?
This first is 3 ∗ 4 = 12 and the second is 34 = 81. Make sure students can explain how they got the
answer, some may have drawn out the chart or used another method.
—-BREAK—-
Introduction to frequency analysis: Since there are 26 ways to encrypt the letter A, 25 ways
to encrypt the letter B (one has already been used), 24 ways to encrypt C,... there are 26! ways
to scramble the English alphabet. This is more than 403 septillion, a number so big, I had to have
Wolfram Alpha tell me what to call it! If you check 1,000,000,000 options a second, it would take
12.79 trillion years to check them all. We need a better method.
Some letters are used more often than others. In a standard block of English text, approximately
12% of the letters are E. We can count how many times each letter occurs, to help us guess the
encryption. Analysis for “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”
A D E F G I L M N O R S T V W
2 5 5 1 1 2 3 1 3 7 2 2 5 1 1
Pass out the frequency analysis practice worksheet. It is good to talk through how to divide up the
work, and that the analysis does not necessarily line up with the expected value. A few students
started to guess the passages, so make sure they can decrypt the entire thing and check it’s the right
length.
Before break, point out that they can use spaces to guess at an encryption scheme, for example, the
only one letter words are “a” and “I.” One way to get around this is to ignore where the spaces go
and put them every 3 or 5 or n letters, or to use a different mod and encrypt the spaces.
—-BREAK—-

Page 16
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

Encryption Review: Review using additive ciphers:

You can convert between letters and numbers, and use a key to get a secret message
I wanna be the very best
8 22-0-13-13-0 1-4 19-7-4 21-2-17-24 1-4-8-19
add 5 to each number, mod26
13 1-5-18-18-5 6-9 24-12-9 0-7-22-3 6-9-13-0
N bfssf gj ymj ajwd gjxy
Also review how to use the cipher wheels.
Encryption practice Students will be broken into 5 groups, each group comes up with a message
to encrypt using an additive cipher. The plaintext message, key, and ciphertext are given to the
instructors to type up for the next day. Alternatively, the encrypted message could be passed to
another group, with instructions for running this activity multiple times in the same day at the end
of the presentation.
Transition: Now we are going to do an encryption and decryption activity
Ask: What methods do you have to encrypt a message?
• Cipher wheel
• Mod 26 multiplication chart
Ask: What tools do you have to decrypt a message?
• Frequency analysis
• Knowing the encryption key
• As long as the encryption scheme does not change, each letter is always replaced with the same
letter
Transition: Now let’s practice using these tools
Activity: Students will be broken into 5 groups, each group comes up with a message to encrypt using
a multiplicative or additive cipher. This encrypted message is given to another group to decrypt.
Rules for the message:
• You have 10 minutes to come up with AND WRITE a message
• Real, English words (also, must make sense)
• No cursing
• Can’t be mean
• Must allow us to read it before encrypting
• No more than 3 sentences
Rules for encryption:

Page 17
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

• You have 10 minutes

• Must use additive cipher
• Give the code with spaces every 3 letters
Closure: We have had some fun practice encrypting and decrypting codes. Tomorrow we will talk
about ways to encrypt messages with people you don’t know!

3.2 Reflections

We basically followed the Beamer as written, since we were editing it as we went.

The review of mods went well, students got the challenge problems pretty quickly. It was a good
place to remind them that there are multiple ways of doing things, before moving into counting.
Most of them did the counting problems by multiplication, but a few did use the tree, or a modified
tree. The phrasing of the Set Deck question confused some, maybe include pictures.
Definitely explain frequency analysis before giving an example. It would probably be best to talk
them through how to use the chart before any example, and maybe have a slide or instructions on
the sheet. It’s also good to emphasize that the expected value is not the same as the actual value,
especially in short blocks of text or if the writer intentionally avoided common letters.
Students definitely focused a lot on counting the frequency. Some were frustrated that it took so
long. This is a good place to talk about team work, probably before passing out the worksheet. Some
students were starting to guess the encryption, which was great, but some were also just checking
that their key made sense. We ended up asking each table if they had a representative who was
willing to read each paragraph to the class, which helped them finish the activity.
We skipped the encryption review and saved it for the next day, since there was not time to talk
about multiplication. We ended up having them write 2 sentences, have us approve them, and then
turn in a piece of paper with the plaintext message, key, and encrypted message. Even with this
check, it took some work to get them to write appropriate, coherent messages. This basically filled
up the time, so the decryption was moved to the next day. This in the end made more work for the
instructors however that helped to check the decryptions keys and check for typos so that may be
the preferred way of running this activity in the future.

4 Decryption practice and Skittle Key Cryptography

Central focus: Students will apply frequency analysis to decrypt messages from the day before. The
goal of the second part of the lesson is to introduce the Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange and challenge
students to discover the result on as a team.
Objectives: Students will
• Work as a team to decrypt messages.

Page 18
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

• Work as a team to solve a ‘passing of a message’ challenge.

• Learn the importance of safely sending encrypted messages.
• Debate and discuss methods of safely sending messages.
Materials:
• Decryption worksheet (Example)
• 12 cups with lids (2 per group)
• 12 bags of Skittles (2 per group)
• Hats or stickers with names Alice, Bob, and Eve (at least one per group-could have multiple
Eves)
• Print out of script
• Print out of rules

4.1 Lesson Notes

Agenda

Time Activity Instructor TA Students

5 min Review Review how to use Maintain focus Listen, ask questions
frequency chart
45 min Decryption Explain worksheet, Guide students to an- Work in groups
activity guide students to swers
answers
30 min Break Prep for after break Supervise students Relax, have fun
15 min Intro to Skittle Explain activity, skit Skit Pay attention
key cryptography
30 min Skittle key cryp- Guide students Guide students Work in groups to
tography through activity through activity find solution
20 min Diffie-Hellman Brief review of mod- Maintain focus Listen, ask questions
Key Exchange ular arithmetic, ex-
plain the algorithm

Lesson Plan

Decryption Activity: This lesson starts with decrypting the messages the day before. Before
handing out the worksheet, review how to read the frequency analysis chart, as well as reminding
students that the frequency is for really long passages. It is also possible some groups intentionally
avoided common letters.

Page 19
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

Remind students that they can divide up the work among the group. This is a good place to have a
competition-we told the first table to get the entire worksheet correct could have candy at lunch.
Skittle Key Cryptography: This activity is based on Chocolate Key Cryptography by Dale J.
Bachman, Ezra A. Brown, Chocolate Key and Anderson H. Norton [1], which is also available at
https://www.math.vt.edu/people/brown/doc/ckc math teacher.pdf.
So we have learned a lot about cryptology, especially in the ways of encrypting and decrypting
messages. But what we haven’t discussed the way two people might develop a secret key that would
be used to produce encryptions and decryptions. Now we are going to run through an activity that
allows you to explore sending messages securely.
The scene: Alice= Claire, Bob= Hannah, Eve= Michelle. In this scenario, Alice and Bob want to
communicate a message to one another however there is someone around eavesdropping (Eve).
Alice and Bob both start out with a “magical” machine (coffee cups w/lids) which allows them
to encrypt and decrypt messages (skittles). The cups represent keys for encoding and decoding
messages. We have to imagine that everyone in class has an encryption-decryption machine that
used cups of skittles as keys. (It’s like the cup is capable of inputting a message then encrypting it
but also the other way around, getting a message and decrypting it.)
That is, if Alice wants to send a message to Bob, she picks a key (a cup of Skittles), puts the key
in the slot, puts her message in the input chute, and cranks forward so that an encrypted message
comes out. She then sends the message to Bob. Even when she sends the message through a public
network (such as the Internet or in our case the multiple Eve’s), the message will remain secure unless
someone else has the same key for encrypting-decrypting.
When Bob receives the encrypted message, he will place his identical key (a cup with the same
numbers and colors of Skittles as Alice has) in the slot of his encrypting-decrypting box. He will then
put the encrypted message into the input chute and crank backward to get a decrypted message out.
The tricky part is for Alice and Bob to obtain identical cans to begin with, without anyone else
obtaining copies of those cans or guessing their contents (knowledge of the contents would allow
someone else to create an identical can thus defeating the purpose of encrypting the message.) In
short, this is the main idea. We will emphasis what not to do with the skit.
Instructors will:
• Open the lid (Eve eats them)
• Say the code out loud, in a whisper. (Eve can hear whispers, she employs bats)
• Bob tries to peak
• Remember! You don’t want Eve to know the key.
• Remember! Cups duplicate when passed so the people can “hold their own”!!
• Can’t combine two duplicates (instead they are holding multiple different cups with keys but
can’t peak into them to combine them)

Page 20
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

Instructor : Alice wants to send Bob a message, but they have not agreed on a key, and they are
too far away to talk about it. How do they figure out a key? I am going to be Alice, is going to
be Bob, and is going to be Eve
Eve: Alice and Bob can?t talk to each other, even at a whisper, because I hear everything with my
pet bats. They can?t signal each other, because I have spies everywhere!
Alice: Bob and I do have magical Skittle powered cryptology machine.If we can just somehow get
the same number of each color skittle in our cups, we can encrypt and decrypt our messages.
Bob: What if I just take the lid off and look at what you put in the cup?
Eve: Then I run over and eat all of your skittles?
Alice: What if I just peak?
Eve:: I can still get your skittles!
Bob: But wait, Eve also has a magical skittle powered cryptology machine! We have to make sure
we end up with the same skittles, but that they are different than what Eve touched.
Rules of the Game:
• Alice and Bob insert as many Skittles of whatever colors they like into their respective cups.
• No one can open either cup, not even Alice or Bob.
• Any student holding a cup is able to duplicate it magically, including its contents.
• This means that each student who has touched the can pretends that he or she still holds an
identical copy, even after passing along the original can (but still one cannot open the copy to
see what is inside).
• The goal is for Alice and Bob–and no one else–to end up with cans with identical contents,
but all their messages to each other must pass through the classroom so that every student can
touch and copy them.
Ask: How can Alice and Bob achieve this goal?
Put students into groups of 3. Let them work through the problem, but answer questions, especially
about the rules. The solution is to have Alice and Bob each put some collection of Skittles in their
cup, remember how many of each color they used, and then switch cups. They then put the same
collection in the new cup.
Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange: The Skittle activity models Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange, which
is a type of public key cryptography. It allows people who do not know each other, such as credit
card companies and consumers, to exchange parts of a key without anyone knowing the whole key.
This scheme was first published in 1976, but in 1997, the British government declassified documents
showing they had developed it in 1974. This is not the most commonly used method of key exchange,
but one that we can easily model.
Here, if Alice wants to send Bob a message, they first need to pick a prime number p, the bigger
the better, which acts like your magical Skittle machine, and a publicly shared base g, with some
restrictions, which acts like the cup. In fact, they need to choose g where they can write g k ≡ a
mod p for any a 6= 0.

Page 21
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

Alice and Bob then each choose numbers between 1 and p − 1, call these numbers a and b.
Alice computes g a ≡ A mod p, and Bob computes g b ≡ B mod p. Alice then sends A to Bob,
and Bob sends B to Alice. Now, Alice computes B a ≡ (g a )b ≡ g ab mod p, and Bob computes
Ab ≡ (g b )a ≡ g ba mod p, so they have the same final key.
Example 5
Alice and Bob agree to use a modulus p = 23 and base g = 5.
Alice chooses a secret integer a = 6, then sends Bob A = g a mod p, where A ≡ 56 ≡ 8 mod 23.
Bob chooses a secret integer b = 15, then sends Alice B = g b mod p, where B ≡ 156 ≡ 19
mod 23.
Alice computes s = B a mod p, where s ≡ 196 ≡ 2 mod 23.
Bob computes s = Ab mod p, where s ≡ 81 5 ≡ 2 mod 23.
Alice and Bob now share a secret (the number 2).
Note that only a, b, and (g ab ≡ g ba mod p) are kept secret. All the other values - p, g, g a mod p,
and g b mod p- are public. Once Alice and Bob compute the shared secret they can use it as an
encryption key, known only to them, for sending messages across the same open communications
channel.

4.2 Reflections

We started by handing out the messages from the day before. They had a list of everyone’s encrypted
message including their own groups, meaning groups had to stay the same from the day before as to
not give any one group an unfair advantage. Students were very into the activity and were able to
use both frequency analysis and intelligent guessing to figure out the messages. At the end of the
activity, it would be good to reiterate shorter messages are harder to decrypt, as are those that have
frequencies dramatically different that what is expected. Also a good place to reinforce dividing up
the work.
At the end of the lesson, run through converting message to numbers, adding key, translating back
to letters. This gives a good intro to multiplication. If time, they can play with a multiplication
chart, but we did not have time.
Skittle key cryptography went pretty well. It’s probably best to rehearse the skit ahead of time. It
would be better to have a handout of the rules for each table, since there are a lot. The students
were confused at the beginning about the rules. Along with having a handout of the rules, it is a
good idea to go around to each table quickly and ask the students to explain what their goal is. That
makes sure everyone is on the same page. The hint that helped most people was that you can switch
cups. Each group was pretty excited when they figured it out.
I was prepared with a brief explanation of Diffie-Helman, but they wanted an example. It would also
be good to have them run through mod 5 or 7 and find a primitive root. (For mod 5, 2 and 3 work,

Page 22
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

for mod 7, 3 and 5 work)

Page 23
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

5 Appendix

5.1 Intro to Cryptology/Modular Arithmetic

Day 1 materials.
1. Modular arithmetic worksheet
2. Encryption and decryption practice worksheet
3. Decoder wheel with instructions, from
http://dabblesandbabbles.com/printable-secret-decoder-wheel/
4. Black and white cipher wheel, larger
5. Alphabet chart

Page 24
 SIM Camp Epsilon: Making and Breaking Codes
Modular Arithmetic
Complete these mod clocks, with numbers bigger than n outside the circle and negative
numbers inside the circle.

1
 We can also do arithmetic with modular arithmetic. Complete the following addition
charts.

+12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 0 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 0 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 0 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 0 1 2 3 4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

+7 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 1 2 3 4 5 6 0
2 2 3 4 5 6 0 1
3
4
5
6

2
 Find some example numbers that work in the following problems:

1. 18 ≡ m mod 4, m =

2. 15 ≡ r mod 14, r =

3. 3 ≡ l mod 2, l =

4. 19 ≡ t mod 11, t =

5. 11 ≡ z mod 4, z =

6. 2 + 6 ≡ p mod 19, p =

7. 13 − 6 ≡ a mod 23, a =

8. 5 + 7 ≡ x mod 14, x =

9. 9 + h ≡ 19 mod 14, h =

10. 19 + b ≡ 17 mod 5, b =

11. 15 + n ≡ 6 mod 7, n =

Addition isn’t the only way we do arithmetic, try these multiplication tables!

×3 0 1 2
0
1
2
×5 0 1 2 3 4
0
1
2
3
4

3
×12 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
2 0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

4
 SIM Camp Epsilon: Making and Breaking Codes
Encryption and Decryption Practice
1. Find the additive inverse of 15 mod 26.

2. Find the additive inverse of 6 mod 13.

3. Solve 5 + x ≡ 12 mod 27.

Encrypt the following messages:

1. Meet me at the usual place at eight o’clock, key=3

2. So long and thanks for all the fish, key=15

3. “we dance round in a ring and suppose,

but the Secrets sit in the middle, and knows”, key=6

Decrypt the following messages. Remember to find the additive inverse of the encryption
key!

1. X detc pi iwt radht, key=11

2. N bfssf gj ymj ajwd gjxy. Qnpj st tsj jajw bfx. Yt hfyhm ymjr nx rd wjfq yjxy. Yt
ywfns ymjr nx rd hfzxj. N bnqq ywfajq fhwtxx ymj qfsi, xjfwhmnsl kfw fsi bnij. Yjfhm
ymjr yt zsijwxyfsi ymj utbjw ymfy’x nsxnij. Ny?x dtz fsi rj N pstb ny?x rd ijxynsd,
tm, dtz’wj rd gjxy kwnjsi ns f btwqi bj rzxy ijkjsi. F mjfwy xt ywzj. Tzw htzwflj bnqq
uzqq zx ymwtzlm. Dtz yjfhm rj fsi N’qq yjfhm dtz. Ltyyf hfyhm ’jr fqq. Utpjrts!,
key=5

1
 Secret Decoder
This is a super fun assignment for all the secret agents out there. Time to put your sleuthing skills to work.
HOW TO MAKE THE DECODER WHEEL:
1. Cut out the circles below and stack in order from the number 1 wheel on the bottom, then number 2 wheel and finally
number 3 wheel on the top.
2. Attach the 3 discs by carefully poking a round brad through the middle of all three wheels.

HOW TO USE DECODER WHEEL:

1. Pick a letter on the outer wheel and a number in the
A B C
inner circle - this is your key (ex. M21). Turn the
inner wheel so that the number (21 in our Z D
example) lines up with the out wheel
letter (M in our example). On our wheel
Y
21 also corresponds with R in the

E
X
shaded section. Don’t move the wheels
now, keep them in place.
T U V W

F
2. First, write down your message.
No numbers (write them out),
and no punctuations

G H I
3. For each letter of your
message, find that character on
the outer wheel, and write
down the letter that is exactly
beneath it on the inner wheel
until your message is complete.
4. To read the encrypted message,
get the key from the message
sender and align the wheel. For each
S

J
letter of your message, find that
character on the inner wheel, and
write down the letter that is exactly
R

K
above it on the outer wheel.
Q L
M N
T U
R S
O P
Q V 
22 23 2 4
21 25
20
W
P

26
19
L M N O

X
15 16 17 18

E CRET
Y Z A B
2

S
3
4
4

R
1

D
K

13

EC
6

E
12
7 OD
C
J

8
9 10 11 D
E F I
G H
 
www.dabblesandbabbles.com
  
Letter Number
a 00
b 01
c 02
d 03
e 04
f 05
g 06
h 07
i 08
j 09
k 10
l 11
m 12
n 13
o 14
p 15
q 16
r 17
s 18
t 19
u 20
v 21
w 22
x 23
y 24
z 25
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

5.2 Hack your Pokémon: locked boxes, brute force, counting and coding

Links to material, available in presentations folder:

1. Set up codes, also available at
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B2ZfYsm V faHA2RThSek1WOUk
2. pdf of Google Presentation, also available at http://tinyurl.com/hackpokemon
3. pdf of instructions to make physical keys, also available at goo.gl/fJk2Au

Page 34
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

5.3 Frequency analyisis

The materials in this section in order are:

1. Letter and digraph frequency chart
2. Mod 26 multiplication chart
3. Frequency analysis practice worksheet
4. Cryptanalysis presentation (link)

Page 35
Letter Percent  of  Text
E           12.51
T 9.25
A 8.04
O 7.6
I 7.26
N 7.09
S 6.54
R 6.12
H 5.49
L 4.14
D 3.99
C 3.06
U 2.71
M 2.53
F 2.3
P 2
G 1.96
W 1.92
Y 1.73
B 1.54
V 0.99
K 0.67
X 0.19
J 0.16
Q 0.11
Z 0.09

The  most  common  first  letter  in  a  word  in  order  of  frequency
                    T,  O,  A,  W,  B,  C,  D,  S,  F,  M,  R,  H,  I,  Y,  E,  G,  L,  N,  O,  U,  J,  K

The  most  common  digraphs  on  order  of  frequency

TH,  HE,  AN,  IN,  ER,  ON,  RE,  ED,  ND,  HA,  AT,  EN,  ES,  OF,  NT,  EA,  TI,  TO,  IO,  LE,  IS,  
                    OU,  AR,  AS,  DE,  RT,  VE

The  most  common  two-­‐‑letter  words  in  order  of  frequency

                    of,  to,  in,  it,  is,  be,  as,  at,  so,  we,  he,  by,  or,  on,  do,  if,  me,  my,  up,  an,  go,  no,  us,  am
 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
x26
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
3 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 2 5 8 11 14 17 20 23
4 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 2 6 10 14 18 22 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 2 6 10 14 18 22
5 0 5 10 15 20 25 4 9 14 19 24 3 8 13 18 23 2 7 12 17 22 1 6 11 16 21
6 0 6 12 18 24 4 10 16 22 2 8 14 20 0 6 12 18 24 4 10 16 22 2 8 14 20
7 0 7 14 21 2 9 16 23 4 11 18 25 6 13 20 1 8 15 22 3 10 17 24 5 12 19
8 0 8 16 24 6 14 22 4 12 20 2 10 18 0 8 16 24 6 14 22 4 12 20 2 10 18
9 0 9 18 1 10 19 2 11 20 3 12 21 4 13 22 5 14 23 6 15 24 7 16 25 8 17
10 0 10 20 4 14 24 8 18 2 12 22 6 16 0 10 20 4 14 24 8 18 2 12 22 6 16
11 0 11 22 7 18 3 14 25 10 21 6 17 2 13 24 9 20 5 16 1 12 23 8 19 4 15
12 0 12 24 10 22 8 20 6 18 4 16 2 14 0 12 24 10 22 8 20 6 18 4 16 2 14
13 0 13 0 13 0 13 0 13 0 13 0 13 0 13 0 13 0 13 0 13 0 13 0 13 0 13
14 0 14 2 16 4 18 6 20 8 22 10 24 12 0 14 2 16 4 18 6 20 8 22 10 24 12
15 0 15 4 19 8 23 12 1 16 5 20 9 24 13 2 17 6 21 10 25 14 3 18 7 22 11
16 0 16 6 22 12 2 18 8 24 14 4 20 10 0 16 6 22 12 2 18 8 24 14 4 20 10
17 0 17 8 25 16 7 24 15 6 23 14 5 22 13 4 21 12 3 20 11 2 19 10 1 18 9
18 0 18 10 2 20 12 4 22 14 6 24 16 8 0 18 10 2 20 12 4 22 14 6 24 16 8
19 0 19 12 5 24 17 10 3 22 15 8 1 20 13 6 25 18 11 4 23 16 9 2 21 14 7
20 0 20 14 8 2 22 16 10 4 24 18 12 6 0 20 14 8 2 22 16 10 4 24 18 12 6
21 0 21 16 11 6 1 22 17 12 7 2 23 18 13 8 3 24 19 14 9 4 25 20 15 10 5
22 0 22 18 14 10 6 2 24 20 16 12 8 4 0 22 18 14 10 6 2 24 20 16 12 8 4
23 0 23 20 17 14 11 8 5 2 25 22 19 16 13 10 7 4 1 24 21 18 15 12 9 6 3
24 0 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0 24 22 20 18 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2
25 0 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 SIM Camp Epsilon: Making and Breaking Codes
Count the occurrence of each letter in the following passages:

1. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were
perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you’d expect to be
involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn’t hold with such
nonsense.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M

N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

2. Ty. Kbyzslf dhz aol kpyljavy vm h mpyt jhsslk Nybuupunz, dopjo thkl kypssz. Ol dhz
h ipn, illmf thu dpao ohyksf huf uljr, hsaovbno ol kpk ohcl h clyf shynl tbzahjol. Tyz.
Kbyzslf dhz aopu huk isvukl huk ohk ulhysf adpjl aol bzbhs htvbua vm uljr, dopjo jhtl
pu clyf bzlmbs hz zol zwlua zv tbjo vm oly aptl jyhupun vcly nhyklu mlujlz, zwfpun
vu aol ulpnoivyz. Aol Kbyzslfz ohk h zthss zvu jhsslk Kbkslf huk pu aolpy vwpupvu
aolyl dhz uv mpuly ivf hufdolyl.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M

N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

3. Sbhe fpber naq frira lrnef ntb bhe snguref oebhtug sbegu ba guvf pbagvarag, n arj
angvba, pbaprvirq va Yvoregl, naq qrqvpngrq gb gur cebcbfvgvba gung nyy zra ner
perngrq rdhny.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M

N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

1
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

5.4 Decryption practice and Skittle Key Cryptography

The materials in this section in order are:

1. Example sentences worksheet, with frequency analysis and decrypted messages

Page 39
Solve the six messages. Each message has a DIFFERENT KEY!!!

1. Ocz mzd nji zcp iym zyv iya jpm yvt nod gnp hhz mqv xvo dji odg nxc jjg

xjh znv gji bep noo jzi ydo.

Key:____________
Original Message:

2. Jrq bab gjn agg bjb ex. Qha pna qvq rir elg uva t.

Key:____________
Original Message:

3. Sio wuh qyu lgs mqy unm bcl n. –Duw uvM oln iLc iom

Key:____________
Original Message:
Solve the six messages. Each message has a DIFFERENT KEY!!!

4. Jdr jyz jar qq. Fky viw zxy kze xxr dvj riv tcr jjz trc dlj zt. –Gif x.

Key:____________

Original Message:

5. Oek qhu qrb ere vsu bbi. Xux qju ije huq tqd txu bya uiu qjy dwv eet.

Key:____________

Original Message:

6. Bpt dxn ibg max fhk gbg zma xgb wtu.

Key:____________

Original Message:
Epsilon Camp: Cryptology

References
[1] Dale J Bachman, Ezra A Brown, and Anderson H Norton. Chocolate key cryptography. Mathe-
matics Teacher, 104(2):100–104, 2010.
[2] Diffie-Hellman key exchange. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/diffie?hellman key exchange.
[3] Robert Lewand. Cryptological mathematics. MAA, 2000.
[4] Unmasked: An Analysis of 10 Million Passwords. https://wpengine.com/unmasked/.

Page 42