NETS1035

Lab 01 Introduction to Cryptography

This lab is intended to get you started with application of cryptographic concepts. It is not marked, but is intended to foster an awareness of cryptography in use.

Historical Cryptography Techniques

Identify at least 3 different methods of encrypting information throughout the known history of humankind.

• They should all predate electronic information representation.
• Try to identify a method from before 1000 B.C., another from the period between 1000 B.C. and 100 A.D., and a third from the period between 100 A.D. and 1900 A.D.
• What differences are there between them?
• Would any of them be useful today?

Encoding vs. Encrypting

For each of the following, would you call it encoding or encrypting?

1. Pig Latin
2. Tweebadoc
3. Enigma machine
4. EBCDIC
5. JN-25
6. Egyptian Hieroglyphs

Can the following programs encrypt/decrypt?

1. vi/vim
2. nano
3. zip
4. tar
5. word/excel/powerpoint
6. outlook
7. chrome
8. firefox

Simple Ciphers

1. Identify a free tool for Windows that can do Caesar ciphers with the ability to control how much to rotate the text.
2. Identify a free tool for MacOSX that can do Caesar ciphers with the ability to control how much to rotate the text.
3. Identify a free tool for Linux that can do Caesar ciphers with the ability to control how much to rotate the text.
4. Can you find tools for these that work on IOS/Android?
5. Try the websites mentioned in the resources list for this course for simple ciphers. Would they be viable options instead for encryptingg instead of loading tools on your own machine? Would they be useful for decrypting?
6. Which of the tools above would you use if you had text to decrypt and did not know what rotation was used?

One-time pad

1. Can you find a real-life example of the use of a one-time pad?

Encryption in the Movies/TV realm

1. What kind of encryption is important in the following movies?
   • The Numbers Station
   • The DaVinci Code
   • Sneakers
   • The Imitation Game
   • A Beautiful Mind

Challenge

Gurer ner BFF gbbyf gb qb rapbqvat naq qrpbqvat va rirel znwbe BF. Vqragvsl gbbyf sbe lbhe bcrengvat flfgrz gb cresbez gur sbyybjvat gnfxf:

1. Onfr64 rapbqr/qrpbqr
2. Urknqrpvzny naq Bpgny qhzc bs qngn
3. Ovanel qhzc bs qngn
4. mvc naq tmvc pbzcerffvba/qrpbzcerffvba