Real-Life Communication -- Solution
Here's your report:
Dear Sir,
Below you'll
find the decrypted text for the problem you gave me. After consulting with
one of my colleagues, I decided the easiest way to solve the code was through
the word lengths and repetition patterns for the state or province names.
As
it turns out, it was helpful to know that the ringleader, "Teach," was a former
geography professor. Part of the ciphertext was "Geography is fun." Of course,
Teach dropped the second G because you can only have one letter for each letter
of the alphabet for plaintext sequences.
In the end, I successfully
deciphered the list of place names using the plaintext sequence ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
and successive slides of the ciphertext sequence GEORAPHYISFUNZXWVTQMLKJDCB.
The
trick to this encryption was realizing that the key changed for each successive
name on the list. The G simply rotates to the back of the ciphertext sequence
and becomes EORAPHYISFUNZXWVTQMLKJDCBG.
Using this method, I determined
the complete list in its decrypted form:
| Ixjg Oimc, Ixjg | Iowa City, Iowa |
| Heqyw, Xwqli Aeuwle | Fargo, North Dakota |
| Ozkvvwo, Thwwlgzdowfo | Altoona, Pennsylvania |
| Yrkj Eqkuxrvju, Wupfusrv | East Ypsilanti, Michigan |
| Att Akpqk, Vnhunfat | Ann Arbor, Michigan |
| Ypthjzius, Tpddpynbdsccd | Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Qllcf Who, Chcvhbizfohm | Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan |
| Bg-Qkewb, fe-Xy! Xy!, Deuius | St-Louis, du-Ha! Ha!, Quebec |
| Zjbqg jz Sozzimj, Rvbxvkvi | Forks of Buffalo, Virginia |
| Kteeteetsrws, Djosgtd | Mississauga, Ontario |
It's my belief this organization will use a similar coding method
in the future. If I can be of any assistance in future communications, just
let me know.
Sincerely,
Agent 103
In
a way, a cryptographer has to apply mathematics to language. For this reason,
your communications skills have to be up to snuff!
"I think they're
very, very important because the people you have to talk to, in almost all
situations, are not aware of the details of what's going on under the covers,"
says cryptographer Greg Rose.
"And it's very important to be able to
describe to them coherently what's the potential for loss," says Rose. "If
things get broken, how much is it going to cost to deploy fixes, or how many
extra servers are we going to have to buy to encrypt the connections --
stuff like that. I think communication skills are absolutely vital."