Vigenere cipher is an extension of a simple Caesar cipher. Caeser cipher works by shifting each letter of the alphabet by a fixed number (a shift), wrapping around the alphabet. For instance, if the shift is 3 then A is transformed into D, and Z is transfomed into C. One can view it as representing letters as numbers from 0 to 25, adding the shift value, and taking the result modulo 26:
A = 0, D = 3, so D is the encoding of A with the shift = 3 since (0 + 3) mod 26 = 3,
Z = 25, (25 + 3) mod 26 = 28 mod 26 = 2, and C = 2, so C is the encoding of Z.
The decoding is done by subtracting the shift value and then taking teh result modulo 26 (be careful with the negative numbers! Some programming languages incorrectly compute mod of negative numbers. However, Ruby % operator does not have this problem).
For instance, if the keyword is "key" and the word we are encoding is "function":
we take the value of the first letter of the key, which is 10, add it to the value of "f" (5), and get a letter 15, which is p.
Adding u (= 20) to e (= 4) gives us y (= 24).
n = 13, y = 24, and combined (and taken mod 26) they give (13 + 24) mod 26 = 11, which is l.
The next letter in plaintext (c) is encoded with k again (since the key is repeated), resulting in m.
The result is "pylmxgyr".
Your goal for this task is to implement Vigenere encoding and decoding. While you can have yoru entire plaintext stored in a string, it may be more convenient to use Ruby file I/O
Your task is to write a Ruby program that attempts to break Vigenere encryption using frequency analysis.
Breaking
Vigenere encryption is do-able, although somewhat challenging. Kasiski approach provides the basic idea: frequent letter
combinations have a high probability of being encrypted by the same
portion of the key words. Observing repeated patterns, one may guess the
length of the keyword and even some of its letters.
Once the keyword length is known, frequency analysis may be applied to characters encrypted by the same letter of the keyword: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigen%C3%A8re_cipher#Frequency_analysis.
Another potentially useful method is Key Elimination
Note that breaking a Vigenere cipher requires a careful examination of the encrypted text and good guessing. You may have to try multiple methods and combine them to break encryption. Keep a log of methods you tried and of ideas that you think are promising.
The following is English text encoded with the keyword that's between 3 and 8 characters long.
coliwicojqkwbjplvwffjvapvjuikicomitxrxnemtbefickmpeitf
oohesnojwxcgrddvkhitesnnafxjhhfhxxvxbmxvgpvjuikgcemifg
sbapagoqympzgvmhggzzclgksdjqgthbytkgubbshlcnnspxufwxnr
fbytkgusjtrbbhjxorqijqdxfexstmwtbsoxjjbmvhfjvyvmssnhvt
dqrrithnhgjtacnvfhcsxrnrhirwcgroxxjbbhvstxoimmumwolxnr
wsnqgfpfamvpotrrvascuicdrflioussjrfxodqwgiosjxgwmjwkgf
pfaathihqxkmghqsumiqxrvasgusqksbpitemjfmuaseclgfcsasyo
ojwpabvbmwqnuicxqucsasyyfpvqaucptwunfdneuxcgbstkcxbstk
cxostmvfusumzfwstxtpaxjxfbaicgrsjhktbuvekwsoflqfhinepz
smbrcfsmnrqksojqgestblgksgxvgossvstx