[Resource Topic] 2020/1492: Automated ciphertext-only attack on the Wheatstone Cryptograph and related devices

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Title:
Automated ciphertext-only attack on the Wheatstone Cryptograph and related devices

Authors: Thomas Kaeding

Abstract:

We examine some historical proto-mechanical cryptographic devices, such as the Wheatstone Cryptograph, that employ revolving clock hands or rotating concentric disks. The action of these “cipher clocks” can be factored into a stream cipher followed by a monoalphabetic substitution. This allows us to perform a stochastic hill-climbing attack to break the substitution. The attack maximizes a fitness that measures how well a decryption of the substitution cipher resembles an encryption of the stream cipher alone.

ePrint: https://eprint.iacr.org/2020/1492

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