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Encyclopedia > Pigpen cipher

The pigpen cipher uses graphical symbols assigned according to a key similar to the above diagram.
The pigpen cipher uses graphical symbols assigned according to a key similar to the above diagram.

The pigpen cipher (sometimes called the masonic cipher or Freemason's cipher) is a simple substitution cipher exchanging letters for symbols based on a grid. The use of symbols is no impediment to cryptanalysis however, and cryptanalysis is identical to that of other simple substitution schemes. The example key shows one way the letters can be assigned to the grid. Download high resolution version (640x609, 49 KB)Key for a Pigpen cipher. ... Download high resolution version (640x609, 49 KB)Key for a Pigpen cipher. ... In cryptography, a substitution cipher is a method of encryption by which units of plaintext are substituted with ciphertext according to a regular system; the units may be single letters (the most common), pairs of letters, triplets of letters, mixtures of the above, and so forth. ... Cryptanalysis (from the Greek kryptós, hidden, and analýein, to loosen or to untie) is the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information, without access to the secret information which is normally required to do so. ...


The scheme was developed and used by the Freemasons in the early 1700s for record-keeping and correspondence (Newton, 1998, p. 113). American Square & Compasses Freemasonry is a worldwide fraternal organization. ... Events January 1 - Russia accepts Julian calendar. ...


Example

Using the example key, the message "X marks the spot" is rendered in ciphertext as:

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x158, 25 KB)A sample pigpen cipher message. ...

References

  • David E. Newton, "Freemason's Cipher" in Encyclopedia of Cryptology, 1998, ISBN 0-87436-772-7.

External links

Classical cryptography
Rotor machines: CCM | Enigma | Fialka | Hebern | HX-63 | KL-7 | Lacida | M-325 | Mercury | NEMA | OMI | Portex | SIGABA | SIGCUM | Singlet | Typex
Ciphers: ADFGVX | Affine | Atbash | Autokey | Bifid | Book | Caesar | Four-square | Hill | Nihilist | Permutation | Pigpen | Playfair | Polyalphabetic | Rail Fence | Reihenschieber | Reservehandverfahren | Running key | Scytale | Solitaire | Substitution | Tap Code | Transposition | Trifid | Two-square | VIC cipher | Vigenère
Cryptanalysis: Frequency analysis | Index of coincidence
Misc: Cryptogram | Polybius square | Scytale | Straddling checkerboard | Tabula recta
Cryptography
History of cryptography | Cryptanalysis | Cryptography portal | Topics in cryptography
Symmetric-key algorithm | Block cipher | Stream cipher | Public-key cryptography | Cryptographic hash function | Message authentication code | Random numbers

  Results from FactBites:
 
The Pigpen Cipher (88 words)
The Pigpen Cipher was used by Freemasons in the 18th Century to keep their records private.
The cipher does not substitute one letter for another; rather it substitutes each letter for a symbol.
The alphabet is written in the grids shown, and then each letter is enciphered by replacing it with a symbol that corresponds to the portion of the pigpen grid that contains the letter.
Pigpen: Information from Answers.com (352 words)
The progressive jazz quartet Pigpen assembled keyboardist Wayne Horvitz, bassist Fred Chalenor, saxophonist Briggan Krauss and drummer Mike Stone.
Pigpen (Italian Porcile) is a 1969 Italian language film, directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini and starring Jean-Pierre Léaud, Marco Ferreri, Ugo Tognazzi, Pierre Clémenti, Alberto Lionelli, and Anne Wiazemsky.
The first one is set in an unknown past time and is about a young man (Clémenti) who wanders in a volcanic landscape (shot around Etna) and turns into a cannibal.
  More results at FactBites »

 

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