Heres a dumb question.

[EccentricInTexas]

Has anyone ever tried using the cypher key numbered backwards? It seems like that would be the easiest way to code the other two letters and still have a little bit of safety. I have never really looked into the Beale stuff so I don't know if its been tried or not. Also could it be entire words and not just letters?

 

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[Rebel - KGC]

Has anyone ever tried using the cypher key numbered backwards? It seems like that would be the easiest way to code the other two letters and still have a little bit of safety. I have never really looked into the Beale stuff so I don't know if its been tried or not. Also could it be entire words and not just letters?

NOT a dumb question at all; think ppl have tried it (Beale Cypher Association...). Computer "Nerds" have done it; NO LUCK to my knowledge... OTHERS may know.

 

[bigscoop]

Has anyone ever tried using the cypher key numbered backwards? It seems like that would be the easiest way to code the other two letters and still have a little bit of safety. I have never really looked into the Beale stuff so I don't know if its been tried or not. Also could it be entire words and not just letters?

Well that's just it, a key can be applied in many different ways, even using just portions of words. No limit to how a key can be applied as long as the coder and decoder are on the same page, pardon the pun.

 

[EccentricInTexas]

Yes but it would have to be something simple for the other members to decode. Something like the first page you subtract a number and the second page is exact and the third you add a number.

 

[ECS]

Yes but it would have to be something simple for the other members to decode...

That would be true if the C1 & C3 ciphers contained an actual message.
The DOI "solved" C2 may well be a ruse to lure in the unwary buyer of the Beale Papers.

 

[TN_Guest1523]

That would be true if the C1 & C3 ciphers contained an actual message.
The DOI "solved" C2 may well be a ruse to lure in the unwary buyer of the Beale Papers.

Wow, holding the NSA line are we?

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Wow, holding the NSA line are we?

Naw... CSA!

 

[bigscoop]

Yes but it would have to be something simple for the other members to decode. Something like the first page you subtract a number and the second page is exact and the third you add a number.

Without a correct key even simple cipher processes can become quite challenging, if not impossible, the longer they are and the fewer duplicate codes that are used. And, who is to say that the rest of the party was ever intended to have access to the ciphers? We already know that the author didn't tell the truth about some of the details he offered so why assume that everything else was on the up and up?

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Without a correct key even simple cipher processes can become quite challenging, if not impossible, the longer they are and the fewer duplicate codes that are used. And, who is to say that the rest of the party was ever intended to have access to the ciphers? We already know that the author didn't tell the truth about some of the details he offered so why assume that everything else was on the up and up?

Heh...

 

[Cryptography]

Has anyone ever tried using the cypher key numbered backwards? It seems like that would be the easiest way to code the other two letters and still have a little bit of safety. I have never really looked into the Beale stuff so I don't know if its been tried or not. Also could it be entire words and not just letters?

Good question. And yes I have.

 

[masterpoe]

Good question. And yes I have.

Who has done the best job with the ciphers in your opinion?