Scytale Cipher

The Scytale Cipher is one of the simplest forms of transposition ciphers. It’s an ancient cipher used by the Spartans, and it works by wrapping a strip of parchment around a cylinder and writing the message across the length of the cylinder. When the parchment is unwound, the letters are scrambled, and only someone with a cylinder of the same diameter can read the message. Here’s a step-by-step guide to using the Scytale Cipher:

Understand the Scytale Cipher Process

Encryption:

• Step 1: Choose the diameter of the cylinder (this will be your key, nnn).

• Step 2: Write the plaintext message across the length of the cylinder, wrapping the message around it.

• Step 3: Read off the message by columns.

Decryption:

• Step 1: Reconstruct the cylinder with the same diameter as the one used for encryption.

• Step 2: Write the ciphertext message around the cylinder.

• Step 3: Read off the message by rows.

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