Vigenère Chiffre

Abstract

This article is about encrypting text using the Vigenère cipher. The encryption can be considered as an extension of the famous Caesar cipher. The Vigenère encoding uses a keyword or keyphrase for polyalphabetical substitution whereas the Ceasar cipher uses a simple shift, e.g., an offset of 5 letters. Although the Vigenère encryption is simple, it can be considered undecipherable without knowledge of the keyword or -prase.

Wikipedia: Vigenère cipher
Wikipedia: Polyalphabetical cipher

Starting Position

A give text should be encrypted as easy and as safe as possible.

Solution

The solution is to shift (rotate) text within a given alphabet (e.g., UTF-8) while using a different shift for each letter of the message derived from the given key. Type some text into the input box, enter a keyword or phrase (at least 16 characters long; best is to use a key that is as long as the message itself) and click on encrypt. Respectively you can paste encrypted code into the input box and decrypt it to clear text with a given key phrase.

Keyphrase    

Input  

Output

Source Code

Protected Sub btnEncrypt_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnEncrypt.Click
    Me.txtOutput.Text = VigenereCipher(Me.txtKey.Text, Me.txtInput.Text, False, 1000)
End Sub

Protected Sub btnDecrypt_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnDecrypt.Click
    Me.txtOutput.Text = VigenereCipher(Me.txtKey.Text, Me.txtInput.Text, True, 1000)
End Sub

Private Function VigenereCipher(ByVal strKey As String, ByVal strInput As String, _
                                ByVal IsDecrypt As Boolean, _
                                Optional ByVal intSalt As Integer = 1) As String

    Dim strChar As String = ""
    Dim lngShift As Long = 0
    Dim strSubst As String = ""
    Dim strCipher As String = ""
    Dim i As Long

    Const ALPHABET As Long = 32768

    For i = 1 To Len(strInput)

        lngShift = CLng(AscW(Mid(strKey, (i - 1)Mod Len(strKey) + 1, 1))) * intSalt
        strChar = Mid(strInput, i,1)

        If IsDecrypt Then lngShift = lngShift* -1
        If (AscW(strChar) + lngShift) ModALPHABET < 0 Then
            strSubst= ChrW(ALPHABET+ ((AscW(strChar) + lngShift) ModALPHABET))
        Else
            strSubst= ChrW((AscW(strChar) + lngShift) Mod ALPHABET)
        End If
        strCipher = strCipher & strSubst

    Next

    Return strCipher

End Function

Sources

  1. Vigenère cipher
  2. Vigenère-Verschlüsselung
  3. One-time pad
  4. Zufallszahlengenerator
Dieter Neumann