Cryptography Mania: THE PIGPEN CIPHER

THE CIPHER

The Pigpen Cipher is alternatively called as the Freemason's ciphet,Masonic cipher, tic-tac-toe cipher,and Napoleon cipher.Looking at the grids,these may look like pigpens,hence the name.It is a geometric substitution cipher,which means graphical symbols,in this case,fragments derived from grids are assigned to each letters of the alphabet.

THE HISTORY

The origin of the Pigpen Cipher is unknown but it's believed to be an ancient cipher. Records of this cipher have been found that go way back to at least the 18th Century up to popular culture.

Freemasons used the Pigpen cipher so often that this cipher is usually called Freemason's cipher. They used it in early 18th Century to keep their records of history and rites private,and for correspondence between lodge leaders. Engravings with pigpen cipher can also be found on tombstones of Freemasons.

The pigpen cipher resurfaced during the American Civil War,when a postal worker found an envelope containing such symbols addressed to a suspected Confederate spy. Also, during that time,the cipher was used by Union prisoners in Confederate prisons in communication.

Several works of popular culture used the pigpen cipher. Dan Brown used this cipher in his 2009 novel The Lost Symbol,not only in book itself but also in the artwork of U.S version of the bookjacket that provides a puzzle. Another, in The Trap,a 2009 Lancanshire Children's Book of the Year nominee, a variation of the cipher was used. In the computer game Assassin's Creed II, the pigpen cipher was used in the hidden glyph puzzle number 10, titled Apollo. Also, the cipher is the key in solving of the third secret message found on "The Science of Deduction", the fictional website of Sherlock Holmes created to accompany the BBC series Sherlock.

THE ENCRYPTION

The encryption process is a piece of cake, it's just substituting symbols with the designated letter. The symbols are assigned to the letters using the key show below,where the letters is located to the parts of the grids they represents.

Therefore;

For example:

To encrypt the word NIGHT, see each letters in the grid,where they are placed.

When encrypted, the NIGHT would be:

THE DECRYPTION

The decryption process is just a reverse process of the encryption. Using the same key, just locate the symbol of the ciphertext and replace it with the letter that the symbol represents by that part of the grid.

For example:

The ciphertext above can be deciphered when we use the key. See each symbols of the ciphertext in the grids and identify what letters that can be seen on them.

So, when decrypted the word would be SWIFTIE.

THE DISCUSSION

The simplicity of the pigpen cipher is it's strength. It is easy to learn, math is not needed,time-saving, and symbols are only complicated as you make them out to be. This cipher is relatively easy to memorize so having a key is not really needed in this case. A good thing in cryptography because keys can easily be intercepted. Also,the pigpen cipher is very verstile, a reason why numerous variations of this cipher exists.

Simplicity is not just a strength but also it's weakness. It is easy to crack as it is easy to recognize. And it can be decrypted through trial-and-error and frequency analysis.

Cryptography is fun. If you're interested, try to decrypt the message below.