TheĀ Caesar Cipher is one of the most commonly used and simplest ciphers, named afterĀ Julius Caesar, it is a great place to start learning about ciphers.
Encryption
The key is an integer normally known as the ‘shift’, it can be a number from 0-25 (0 being the identity). First you create your alphabet mapping of plaintext letters (lowercase) to ciphertext letters (uppercase) using the shift.
Some examples a shifts would look like this Shift of 1: Shift of 21: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZA VWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU
For each letter in your plaintext you replace it it with its corresponding ciphertext letter (the one below it in the mapping).
It can also be thought of like converting each letter to is equivalent value (A=0, B=1…. Z=25 etc) and adding the key shift, and subtracting 26 if the value is 26 or greater,Ā then convert back to letters.
Example:
Encrypting “when the clock strikes twelve attack” using the shift of 21
when the clock strikes twelve attack RCZI OCZ XGJXF NOMDFZN ORZGQZ VOOVXF
Decryption
For each letter in your ciphertext you replace it it with its corresponding plaintext letter (the one above it in the mapping).
You can also convert each letter to is equivalent value (A=0, B=1…. Z=25 etc) and subtract the key shift this time, and add 26 if the value smaller than 0,Ā then convert back to letters.
VWXYZABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTU - Shift of 21: abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz RCZI OCZ XGJXF NOMDFZN ORZGQZ VOOVXF when the clock strikes twelve attack
As we are working in modular 26 a shift of -5 is the same as a shift of 21. The inverse key of 21 would be 5.