Ciphers

The ciphers covered in this website are listed below. Please click on each to learn more.

Caesar

Line up first letter in plaintext with first letter in cyphertext on the cipher wheel. If same shift across all letters then you found the plaintext.

Vigenère

Use cipher wheel to check if 1st and 4th letters shifted by the same amount, then 2nd and 5th letter, then 3rd and 6th letters.

Columnar Transposition

Rearrange columns until a coherent sentence appears. Remember filler ‘x’s help you find correct order sooner.

Simple Transposition

Reverse all the letters in terms of their order, e.g. “hello there” becomes “ereht olleh” and vice versa.

Bifid

Click letters (from cyphertext) to fill the 2xN grey box, then read as ‘vertically’ paired numbers, then type your answer into the answer box.

PigPen

Each letter is represented by a unique symbol, shown in the reminder, which you can read from or interact with it.

Atbash

Reverses the alphabet, substituting letters with their mirror image (A becomes Z, B becomes Y, and so on). Use reminder for help.

What Is a Cipher

A cipher is a method or algorithm used to encrypt or encode information in order to make it unintelligible to unauthorised individuals. It is a fundamental concept in the field of cryptography, which deals with secure communication and data protection.

In simple terms, a cipher takes plain, readable text, known as plaintext, and transforms it into ciphertext, which is a scrambled or encoded version of the original text. This transformation is achieved by applying specific rules or mathematical operations to the plaintext, using a secret key or set of rules known only to the intended recipients.