What Is Vigenere Cipher?

The Vigenere cipher is an ancient form of cryptography that dates back to the 1400s when it was documented in the works of famous writers like Trithemius. The cipher uses alphabetical substitution to encode text. Each letter in the plain text replaces another letter from a predetermined alphabet. The key determines which letters are used for encoding and decoding, called "ciphertext" or "code text," as written down. The Vigenere cipher is a form of polyalphabetic substitution, meaning that the cipher uses several alphabets instead of just one to switch between when forming the ciphertext. In the case of the Vigenere cipher, there are 25 alphabets used to create the ciphertext from the original plaintext message. The Vigenere cipher is much more challenging to crack than other alphabetic ciphers. The security of the Vigenere cipher has been questioned, and several techniques are now known to interpret it; nevertheless, the Vigenere cipher remains a curiosity of cryptography and a testament to how far we have come in developing more secure ciphers. What's this? A new cipher? The Vigenere cipher is a type of tabula recta of alphabetic where encoders can change the lines for alphabetic. This simple form is also a part of the Trithemius and Caesar cipher, named after Julius Caesar. What is a Vigenere cipher? A Vigenere cipher is a transposition code or code that involves substituting alphabetic letters; in contrast to primitive principles that shift notes consistently, the Vigenere cipher represented an improvement from these codes by using multiple letters to mean a single letter in the plaintext. Though it was better than primitive codes, the Vigenere cipher is not considered robust and can be broken with modern tools. Don't worry about these complicated and confusing things, don't worry: there are plenty of online tools that will help you encode messages with this technique!