I am taking a computer security class and the professor gave us some practice codes to try to decrypt. Well, I am frustrated. I cannot wait until next week to find out the answer, I've spent hours on this. Please help!
The code is either a letter substition OR a position shift, NOT both.
Encoded message (some English prose quotation):
pbegu uymiq icuuf guuyi qguuy qcuiv fiqgu uyqcu qbeme vp
Thanks!
well, I wrote a quick program that'll do letter shifts... and here are my results:
pbegu uymiq icuuf guuyi qguuy qcuiv fiqgu uyqcu qbeme vp
qcfhv vznjr jdvvg hvvzj rhvvz rdvjw gjrhv vzrdv rcfnf wq
rdgiw waoks kewwh iwwak siwwa sewkx hksiw wasew sdgog xr
sehjx xbplt lfxxi jxxbl tjxxb tfxly iltjx xbtfx tehph ys
tfiky ycqmu mgyyj kyycm ukyyc ugymz jmuky ycugy ufiqi zt
ugjlz zdrnv nhzzk lzzdn vlzzd vhzna knvlz zdvhz vgjrj au
vhkma aesow oiaal maaeo wmaae wiaob lowma aewia whksk bv
wilnb bftpx pjbbm nbbfp xnbbf xjbpc mpxnb bfxjb xiltl cw
xjmoc cguqy qkccn occgq yoccg ykcqd nqyoc cgykc yjmum dx
yknpd dhvrz rlddo pddhr zpddh zldre orzpd dhzld zknvn ey
zloqe eiwsa smeep qeeis aqeei amesf psaqe eiame alowo fz
amprf fjxtb tnffq rffjt brffj bnftg qtbrf fjbnf bmpxp ga
bnqsg gkyuc uoggr sggku csggk coguh rucsg gkcog cnqyq hb
corth hlzvd vphhs thhlv dthhl dphvi svdth hldph dorzr ic
dpsui imawe wqiit uiimw euiim eqiwj tweui imeqi epsas jd
eqtvj jnbxf xrjju vjjnx fvjjn frjxk uxfvj jnfrj fqtbt ke
fruwk kocyg yskkv wkkoy gwkko gskyl vygwk kogsk grucu lf
gsvxl lpdzh ztllw xllpz hxllp htlzm wzhxl lphtl hsvdv mg
htwym mqeai aummx ymmqa iymmq iuman xaiym mqium itwew nh
iuxzn nrfbj bvnny znnrb jznnr jvnbo ybjzn nrjvn juxfx oi
jvyao osgck cwooz aoosc kaoos kwocp zckao oskwo kvygy pj
kwzbp pthdl dxppa bpptd lbppt lxpdq adlbp ptlxp lwzhz qk
lxacq quiem eyqqb cqque mcqqu myqer bemcq qumyq mxaia rl
mybdr rvjfn fzrrc drrvf ndrrv nzrfs cfndr rvnzr nybjb sm
nzces swkgo gassd esswg oessw oasgt dgoes swoas ozckc tn
oadft txlhp hbtte fttxh pfttx pbthu ehpft txpbt padld uo
this appears that nothing makes sence... so it must be replacement. (which of course is much harder) SORRY!
just quick math, to try something brute force like that with replacement, there would be about 403291461126605635584000000
possibilites! so you need to use some wisdom and try to decipher based on commonallity of letters and such (all those double us should be a good start!) Let me know if you figure it out, or when you find the answer
I GOT IT!!!!!!!
"the cook was a good cook as cooks go and as cooks go she went"
that was a combination of a 17 letter shift and reversal of the alphabet!!!
for those of you who are curious, here is my shift table with the reversed alphabet!
(0 shift)kyvtf fbnrj rxffu tffbr jtffb jxfre urjtf fbjxf jyvnv ek
(1 shift)jxuse eamqi qweet seeaq iseea iweqd tqise eaiwe ixumu dj
(2 shift)iwtrd dzlph pvdds rddzp hrddz hvdpc sphrd dzhvd hwtlt ci
(3 shift)hvsqc cykog ouccr qccyo gqccy gucob rogqc cyguc gvsks bh
(4 shift)gurpb bxjnf ntbbq pbbxn fpbbx ftbna qnfpb bxftb furjr ag
(5 shift)ftqoa awime msaap oaawm eoaaw esamz pmeoa awesa etqiq zf
(6 shift)espnz zvhld lrzzo nzzvl dnzzv drzly oldnz zvdrz dsphp ye
(7 shift)dromy yugkc kqyyn myyuk cmyyu cqykx nkcmy yucqy crogo xd
(8 shift)cqnlx xtfjb jpxxm lxxtj blxxt bpxjw mjblx xtbpx bqnfn wc
(9 shift)bpmkw wseia iowwl kwwsi akwws aowiv liakw wsaow apmem vb
(10 shift)aoljv vrdhz hnvvk jvvrh zjvvr znvhu khzjv vrznv zoldl ua
(11 shift)znkiu uqcgy gmuuj iuuqg yiuuq ymugt jgyiu uqymu ynkck tz
(12 shift)ymjht tpbfx fltti httpf xhttp xltfs ifxht tpxlt xmjbj sy
(13 shift)xligs soaew ekssh gssoe wgsso wkser hewgs sowks wliai rx
(14 shift)wkhfr rnzdv djrrg frrnd vfrrn vjrdq gdvfr rnvjr vkhzh qw
(15 shift)vjgeq qmycu ciqqf eqqmc ueqqm uiqcp fcueq qmuiq ujgyg pv
(16 shift)uifdp plxbt bhppe dpplb tdppl thpbo ebtdp plthp tifxf ou
(17 shift)theco okwas agood cooka scook sgoan dasco oksgo shewe nt
(18 shift)sgdbn njvzr zfnnc bnnjz rbnnj rfnzm czrbn njrfn rgdvd ms
(19 shift)rfcam miuyq yemmb ammiy qammi qemyl byqam miqem qfcuc lr
(20 shift)qebzl lhtxp xdlla zllhx pzllh pdlxk axpzl lhpdl pebtb kq
(21 shift)pdayk kgswo wckkz ykkgw oykkg ockwj zwoyk kgock odasa jp
(22 shift)oczxj jfrvn vbjjy xjjfv nxjjf nbjvi yvnxj jfnbj nczrz io
(23 shift)nbywi iequm uaiix wiieu mwiie maiuh xumwi iemai mbyqy hn
(24 shift)maxvh hdptl tzhhw vhhdt lvhhd lzhtg wtlvh hdlzh laxpx gm
(25 shift)lzwug gcosk syggv uggcs kuggc kygsf vskug gckyg kzwow fl
Originally posted by trex005
I GOT IT!!!!!!!
"the cook was a good cook as cooks go and as cooks go she went"
that was a combination of a 17 letter shift and reversal of the alphabet!!!
YAY!!!!! Thanks a lot!
I tried all sorts of shift functions but I didn't think about using a reversed alphabet.
Thanks again!
so, are you going to give any of the credit this way, or are you going to tell your teacher that you figured it out?
Honatly... I'll probably never meet your teacher so I guess it doesn't matter. And as they say, it is more important to know how to find the answer than it is to figure it out yourself! (at least in the real world)
Good job, Trex.
As for the rest: in the academic world the object is to learn how. 
any time you're dealing with a one to one letter replacement cipher just use the chi squared method for letter frequencies.
here is a link to the program I wrote to decipher it... it will take any string and display all letter offsets of that string, and all reverse alphabet letter offsets.. kinda a fun little toy.
Travis Toy
kzjv napzaj dazr rgnu f nb vnpfah gjwj?