Encryption Review Lab Questions:

Please answer the following questions in your lab report.

1) Caesar Cipher: What does the cipher text below say? You can try to analyze by hand
or use the tool at the following link:
http://www.simonsingh.net/The_Black_Chamber/caesar.html
LZAK AK S LWKL GX LZW USWKSJ KZAXL UAHZWJ HDWSKW LWDD EW
OZSL LZAK EWKKSYW KSQK
2) Vignere Square Tool Cipher: Same as above. Tell me what the message below says.
Link: http://www.simonsingh.net/The_Black_Chamber/vigenere_tool.html . In the Insert
Keyword Here box type in UTICACOLLEGEPIONEERS; thats the way the cipher
alphabet is created. Make sure you analyze how the cipher text was created and likewise
how the cipher text was changed back into plain text.
OMQEAECWWIMIWWQXICGDURAKNVVPPGGGLMGGGSEXYKMPCG
3) XOR Encryption: I have used XOR encryption to encrypt a word made up of seven
characters. The characters of this word have each been encrypted used using XOR
encryption. The cipher text of the word is as follows:
00010000
00011011
00010110
00000111
00001100
00000101
00000001
The key is: 01010101
Use http://www.tech-faq.com/xor-encryption.shtml to guide you through the decryption
phase. After you have applied the key to the binary strings above you can use the ASCII
to binary conversion chart at http://www.pcguide.com/res/tablesASCII-c.html to
determine what letter each eight bit string stands for and thus what the word is.
4) FreeCrypt: This lab will consist of a short hands-on exercise to use the FreeCrypt
program as a tool to illustrate encryption concepts. You will need to register at the

following link: http://www.steganos.com/en/products/for-free/freecrypt/overview/

Once you have registered please decrypt the following message;
Ev1WbmNnKvP98RMWHaPUNR+c8wQHfIlCH8E54wGU1Z5S9eoLeJhwz87BHCbXe
wTC3dRn7hBWaimCn6hoTYmDdkYpOGGXrYCE3DlplvU5RQOVHMiCyE5U6qaQ53
cgJde5ebeS9/eFBCXpjrEwY8B3hhJyBE0FqagoljGa7EUiZ0I=
The password for this exercise is abc123.
In addition to answering the questions posed in the encrypted question, what in your
opinion is the weak point of this system?
NOTE: At the Steganos web site, there are two other free tools: Safe One and LockNote.
Take a look at them. What do they do?
5) Cryptanalysis: Decrypt the following message. I am not giving you the key, but I will
give you a clue, the letters are shifted. Describe how you approach solving this type of
problem.
UIJT JT B TFDSFU NFTTBHF
6) PGP: The tools that you have used above are what are known as secret key or
symmetric encryption systems where a secret key must be shared. In PGP things are little
different. PGP uses aspects of symmetric encryption but uses the concept of asymmetric
encryption to exchange secret session keys. PGP is actually a hybrid cryptography
system. In this type of system, a user encrypts a message with a secret session key and
then locates in a directory the user that they wish to send the message to. When they
locate that user they encrypt the secret session key with the recipients public key. Upon
receipt of the message the user can decrypt the secret session key with their private key
and then use the secret session key to decrypt the message. Experiment with the PGP
system by downloading the trial version from the following link:
http://www.pgp.com/downloads/desktoptrial/desktoptrial2.html. Conduct the experiment
by sending an encrypted message to and receiving an encrypted message from your lab
partner. Document all the steps you took in order to earn credit for part 6.
7) Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption: Define and describe symmetric and
asymmetric encryption. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of each. Why is it
important to exchange keys out of band in symmetric encryption?
8) Hash Functions: What is a hash function? What are some hash algorithms? What can
a hash be used for?