substitution Archives - Anton Hoyer

Arcturus: Not a Cipher

Anton Hoyer — Sun, 27 Jul 2025 20:00:00 +0000

Introduction If you are into cryptology like me you probably agree that ciphers and codes become a lot more intriguing if their authors are infamous. The best-known examples are the letters sent to press and police between 1969 and 1970 by the Zodiac Killer. Even though the chances of actually decoding these ciphers are slim, […]

The post Arcturus: Not a Cipher appeared first on Anton Hoyer.

Caqr

Anton Hoyer — Sun, 15 Jun 2025 20:00:00 +0000

For a long time, I was unsure whether I even wanted to write about this project or simply sweep it under the rug. Because what is the best advice for someone who wants to develop a modern and secure cryptosystem? Don’t do it. Nobody needs it. There are plenty of fast, secure, elegantly simple, and […]

The post Caqr appeared first on Anton Hoyer.

Pendulo

Anton Hoyer — Wed, 29 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Introduction True randomness, as unachievable as it seems, would revolutionize the world of cryptography because attackers could no longer make predictions. Forget the pseudo-random number generators that rely on timing and user hardware, as they are not cryptographically secure. Better are systems based on physical processes, for example, radioactive decay or filming 100 lava lamps […]

The post Pendulo appeared first on Anton Hoyer.

Caidoz

Anton Hoyer — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 20:00:00 +0000

This monoalphabetic substitution alphabet was inspired by the Zodiac Killer’s cryptograms. If you are not familiar with them, in addition to the Latin alphabet, he used several symbols, such as triangles, half-filled rectangles, and mirrored letters. While his cipher was homophonic to throw codebreakers off, meaning that one plaintext letter could have more than one […]

The post Caidoz appeared first on Anton Hoyer.

Boonish

Anton Hoyer — Sun, 01 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

“Teo! Tėp? Gōa bȧognā bōoo lā’hēo. Gȯo hoȧ haān’bȧan? Mēp-bla” — William S. Burroughs Background This substitution cipher was inspired by the hallucinatory writings found in AI-generated images. Typically, the AI attempts to integrate words from the user prompt into the image, often inventing new words or even letters. To an outsider like myself, those […]

The post Boonish appeared first on Anton Hoyer.

Bridgeman

Anton Hoyer — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 20:00:00 +0000

This encryption method is based on a standard deck of 52 cards and can be used with pen and paper or a computer. The default order of the deck is clubs (♣), diamonds (♦), hearts (♥), spades (♠). Within each suit, the cards are ordered as ace (A), two (2), three (3), four (4), five (5), six (6), seven (7), eight (8), nine (9), ten (0), jack (J), queen (Q), king (K). […]

The post Bridgeman appeared first on Anton Hoyer.

Lexigraph

Anton Hoyer — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 20:00:00 +0000

This symmetric encryption method is based on a dictionary, technically making it a nomenclator cipher. In fact, any digital dictionary can be used, the larger the better. I work with one that consists of several smaller dictionaries from various sources and contains 466,480 words in total. Consequently, the resulting ciphertexts are a jumble of different […]

The post Lexigraph appeared first on Anton Hoyer.

Speedcube

Anton Hoyer — Mon, 30 May 2022 20:00:00 +0000

Plaintext “In secret, I gaze at you, behold something holy. But this time a song won’t do to ground my soul.” IN SECRET I GAZE AT YOU BEHOLD SOMETHING HOLY BUT THIS TIME A SONG WONT DO TO GROUND MY SOUL Solved cube This substitution cipher was inspired by the Rubik’s Cube, a popular 3D […]

The post Speedcube appeared first on Anton Hoyer.