Ivdweby: Xkc-Diyepx
The U.S. Army used a cipher device called the M-94.The device
consisted of 25 alphabet discs and a shaft. The disk can be mounted
on the shaft in any order; they may be rotated relative to each
other or may be fixed. On the rim of each alphabet disk there is
stamped a different disarranged alphabet. At it’s inside or cup
surface each alphabet disk is marked with a number. The numbers run
from 1 to 25.
Leo Battista Alberti invented the underlying principle
cryptographic -revolving, exchangeable alphabet wheels - during the
fifteenthcentury. It has been reinvented by different people over
the time: Thomas Jefferson, Major Bazeries (~1901), Colonel Parker
Hitt (1914), and may be others. The US-Navy used the device as
CSP-488.
The message below is encrypted using a variant of the U.S.Army’s
M-94 wheel cipher. It uses ten wheels and does not randomize the
order of the alphabet. A good way to visualize a wheel cipher, in
2-dimensional space, is shown in the table below. It represents a
five-wheel wheel cipher. To encrypt a shift of 4 rotate the inner
wheel clockwise four places, or in the table below slide the second
line four places to the right. The encryption key is said to be the
number of places you rotate the inner wheel, relative to the
outermost wheel.
The example above has an encryption key 4, 13,15, 22. Using this
encryption key, let's decrypt this caches name, "Ivdweby:
Xkc-Diyepx" = "Mission: Top-Secret." To encrypt the first
letter of the word you locate it on the first wheel and encrypt it
to the corresponding letter on the second wheel. For the second
letter of the word you use the first wheels and encrypt it to the
corresponding letter on the second wheel. Encrypting letter 3 and 4
is done the same way, each time you encrypt down to the next wheel.
The fifth and other letters that letter the pattern is repeated.
Spaces, special characters and numbers are disregarded during the
encryption and decryption process.
The following message was encoded with a ten-wheel cipher. It
contains vital information needed to locate the geocache.
ORCE NSLQ, XGH YTFI AAQJRTMVC BQBACYXBIB FGAF DXCWYSD TL
LLSRE M UWEJBYR MR SZR RKWC UTDWY VGMVWBSABE. GYA GF HK GZFO XM
BQGPVXN XM FGW PRVRI QUSW! UREP SD FGW SLG PSP FGAF TTMLC UR
DRRKXMLS GGJ KH MVYOJ LUV VYHC, MMV GYX YXFQQ ZNCY YJ RTD XHE BC
EAFTSYCR ZYRFHFT KAO GMPD LB LLO. MR UR GOMBYYQ FGSG KAO QMDD QBL
NCI RTHK SFKW SD QMUEPIDMMZ ZFQ KAO WSNRMDLXXX BQBJLGMSSL FGW
RRLSIP US YRKL, RSUQUWE, NX LIR FGSG SR XSU KNM NIX TYQF QWNUR PSP
FGGFV VYSPPHFNKXC XM PQAC WKYQ RTD HNXX, CS UUSZ AF YEVRTDJ NUH,
DLC ONGEUBXERQR SEV GYVRT SZEVX XMLQ CWTIXOW DATJ FVOOR NAHFG FGO
SLQ EGHI FSRSFDK NEW GIQF YWEF LOZCZ EGHI WOKPQDK SFNB WGJ OGVEM
XMLQ YWEF GSRC YHFHKXC. RMFD LURM GLCZ GWNUBXK RA SZR TTMLC FGWEV
TBI YNNMG KABIC TTFQIXN JCQS GE JH YJ ZGRZ JYTMOGZF XEFF DLC
OKGFVLD TYDJAAX TBIY. FGAF ZL YYP RHJFK VVEQEHU CZGOC FUCW, FF EOX
SE JFBN AYA UQ ZJR UHSRE. MFSVE ZBIYF IGO, YTFI DGM, TR JTPI, YZC
VBE’M PSPSDL GF POEP NKSMV HBELSD!
To make it easier for you we will give you the first setting.
The first decryption wheel is a shift of 8.
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This cache was inspired by an ingenious cache developer from the
Las Vegas area who goes by the name
ic_nevadamike.
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PLEASE, No spoiler photographs or logs (even if
encrypted). It detracts from our intentions for the cache.
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Note: We now live in New Mexico and wanting to keep our
cache going, we asked the members of SJG to watch over our cache.
We will keep an eye on the logs, so if anything seems awry please
say so and we will contact them and have the necessary steps taken
to remedy the situation.
Thanks for visiting!
^V^
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