Talk:VIC cipher

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The Original VIC cipher?

Latest comment: 4 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion

It appears that the current description/example of the VIC cipher presented here does not match the original description of the cipher. https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol5no4/html/v05i4a09p_0001.htm Done Zasmkl (talk) 20:53, 13 January 2020 (UTC)Reply

Wouldn't that make the current example simply a straddled checkerboard with modular addition instead of the actual VIC cipher? 76.236.133.145 (talk) 20:32, 21 February 2019 (UTC)Reply

Comment unclear as to what 'that' refers to. Zasmkl (talk) 20:53, 13 January 2020 (UTC)Reply

SNEGOPAD

Latest comment: 4 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

Should mention that in Cyrillic versions of the cipher, the frequent laetters keyword was "snegopad" (snowfall) instead of ESTONIA-R. See David Kahn's Codebreakers... AnonMoos (talk) 15:09, 4 December 2009 (UTC)Reply
Done - information added Zasmkl (talk) 20:53, 13 January 2020 (UTC)Reply

Insertions.

Latest comment: 9 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion

The Kahn article, on the CIA website, currently ref #1, states that the nickel message contained the following (translated from Russian).

". . . Encipher short letters, but do the longer ones with insertions. All the data about yourself, place of work, address, etc., must not be transmitted in one cipher message. Transmit insertions separately."

Does anyone know what an insertion is? If so what, if anything, do insertions add to the cryptographic security? I presume there must be some advantage for the KGB to be using them. AnnaComnemna (talk) 18:05, 22 October 2015 (UTC)Reply

Transposition

Latest comment: 3 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion

There needs to be way more detail on the transposition section of the VIC cipher, specifically how the diagonal transposition works. This section is huge part of what makes the VIC cipher so secure, so it's weird to see this section so empty. "Number One From Moscow" is a very good reference for this, and in particular explains the transposition mechanics quite well. It's actually cited on the main page, but that citation points to a 404. I found the updated link here: Number One From Moscow. Coalternate (talk) 02:56, 22 April 2021 (UTC)Reply

I think that a term sometimes used for the general strategy of this cipher is "Fractionation cipher" -- you split all (or many) plaintext elements (letters) into two cipher elements, then move things around so that the two elements are no longer next to each other. See Transposition cipher#Fractionation... -- AnonMoos (talk) 02:37, 23 April 2021 (UTC)Reply

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