Two Step Encryption

[chalkoutline]

After joining treasurenet I read several posts indicating the Beale Ciphers used a two step encryption. Since they gave no clues, I summized the following process...
1. Write a message in plain text.
2. Apply a period encryption process: Caesar cipher, vigenere cipher, Gronsfeld cipher or a combination.
Purpose: scrambles the letters of the massage.
Cipher2/DOI did not apply any additional encryption.
3. Create a "key" using a book cipher.
Purpose: Convert the letters to numbers.
This "key" would be given to person in st. Louis.
4.Encrypt the message using the "key"
Purpose: Additional security to allow the "key" and ciphers to be separated.
The ciphers were given to Robert Morriss.

Let's pretend it's 1832 and Robert Morriss receives the "key" from St louis. RM finds a list of numbers with a letter assigned to each number. RM could easily decode the message, locate the treasure and give it to the heirs.

Since the Caesar cipher uses a fixed offset, it could be used and still allow RM to easily decode the message as described.
However, the Vigenere and Gronsfeld cipher has irregular offsets by using a "keyword" which produces multiple letters for one number not to mention the additional instructions required for RM to apply the "keywords" in order to decode the message.

My conclusion is...I no longer believe the ciphers are a result of a 2 step encryption process requiring "keywords" because it makes harder for RM to complete his ultimate goal.
TB secured his messages by
1. using a book cipher where one must know the document, the document version and how the document was numbered. (Impossible)
2. TB also used multiple numbers for the same letters which deters using "frequency" as a method to decode the message from just the ciphers (almost impossible)
3. Separating the "key" from the ciphers by hundreds of miles (improbable)

While working on this, i did come up with a new theory...the person in st louis would know of Robert Morriss from the address on the letter so he could have
1. opened and read the letter,
2. traveled to Lynchburg, located and opened the box
3. replaced the lock,
4. decoded the location and
5. dug it up.

 

[johnnyrev]

After joining treasurenet I read several posts indicating the Beale Ciphers used a two step encryption. Since they gave no clues, I summized the following process...
1. Write a message in plain text.
2. Apply a period encryption process: Caesar cipher, vigenere cipher, Gronsfeld cipher or a combination.
Purpose: scrambles the letters of the massage.
Cipher2/DOI did not apply any additional encryption.
3. Create a "key" using a book cipher.
Purpose: Convert the letters to numbers.
This "key" would be given to person in st. Louis.
4.Encrypt the message using the "key"
Purpose: Additional security to allow the "key" and ciphers to be separated.
The ciphers were given to Robert Morriss.

Let's pretend it's 1832 and Robert Morriss receives the "key" from St louis. RM finds a list of numbers with a letter assigned to each number. RM could easily decode the message, locate the treasure and give it to the heirs.

Since the Caesar cipher uses a fixed offset, it could be used and still allow RM to easily decode the message as described.
However, the Vigenere and Gronsfeld cipher has irregular offsets by using a "keyword" which produces multiple letters for one number not to mention the additional instructions required for RM to apply the "keywords" in order to decode the message.

My conclusion is...I no longer believe the ciphers are a result of a 2 step encryption process requiring "keywords" because it makes harder for RM to complete his ultimate goal.
TB secured his messages by
1. using a book cipher where one must know the document, the document version and how the document was numbered. (Impossible)
2. TB also used multiple numbers for the same letters which deters using "frequency" as a method to decode the message from just the ciphers (almost impossible)
3. Separating the "key" from the ciphers by hundreds of miles (improbable)

While working on this, i did come up with a new theory...the person in st louis would know of Robert Morriss from the address on the letter so he could have
1. opened and read the letter,
2. traveled to Lynchburg, located and opened the box
3. replaced the lock,
4. decoded the location and
5. dug it up.

The "key" from St louis didn't make it because of a flood in 1826. The letter left with a Lawyer was destroyed.

 

[Carl-NC]

The "key" from St louis didn't make it because of a flood in 1826. The letter left with a Lawyer was destroyed.

The 1826 flood only did minor damage in St Louis. Besides that, the lawyer's office was on the second floor of a bank building, no damage at all.

 

[johnnyrev]

The 1826 flood only did minor damage in St Louis. Besides that, the lawyer's office was on the second floor of a bank building, no damage at all.

 

[johnnyrev]

 

[Carl-NC]

You understand that Prarie du Chien is about 300 miles north, in Wisconsin. The 1826 flood did destroy flood-plain towns like Granite City (across from St Louis) and Franklin (further west) but St Louis itself only had minor damage, being a bit higher in elevation. The 1844 flood (7.5 feet higher than 1826) inundated much of St Louis but, even then, it damaged a lot of buildings but did not obliterate them.

 

[johnnyrev]

You understand that Prarie du Chien is about 300 miles north, in Wisconsin. The 1826 flood did destroy flood-plain towns like Granite City (across from St Louis) and Franklin (further west) but St Louis itself only had minor damage, being a bit higher in elevation. The 1844 flood (7.5 feet higher than 1826) inundated much of St Louis but, even then, it damaged a lot of buildings but did not obliterate them.

The envelope only had to come into contact with water for it to be compromised. However, there was a high likelihood that it had been destroyed in a flood. While we can't be certain about the fate of that letter, we know for sure that it never reached Morriss.

 

[johnnyrev]

You understand that Prarie du Chien is about 300 miles north, in Wisconsin. The 1826 flood did destroy flood-plain towns like Granite City (across from St Louis) and Franklin (further west) but St Louis itself only had minor damage, being a bit higher in elevation. The 1844 flood (7.5 feet higher than 1826) inundated much of St Louis but, even then, it damaged a lot of buildings but did not obliterate them.

In about 1826, after a flood, they moved a whole town to higher ground. Was That Franklin?

 

[johnnyrev]

 

[johnnyrev]

Not everyone lives in the bustling city of St. Louis!

 

[Carl-NC]

However, there was a high likelihood that it had been destroyed in a flood.

There's no likelihood of that at all. The lawyer's office was above the recently defunct Bank of St Louis. It's far more likely it was lost in transit, burned in a fire, or pocketed by the lawyer.

In about 1826, after a flood, they moved a whole town to higher ground. Was That Franklin?

Yes, now New Franklin.

 

[chalkoutline]

As my original post indicated, the intent of creating the three ciphers and keys and separating them by 750 miles was to prevent Robert Morriss or anyone else from finding the treasure while Thomas Beale was still alive. However, after 10 years when the ciphers and the keys are brought together, the intent changes where TB would have made it easy for RM to decode the ciphers, locate the treasure and distribute it to the heirs.

So I don't think TB used extra encryption such as a vigenere or Gronsfeld cipher which both require keywords which would complicate RM's efforts to decode the ciphers and find the treasure.

TB could have used a Caesar cipher for added security and then compensated for the fixed offset when creating the key given to the person in st louis. The key with a Caesar cipher would have looked not different than a key without and still be just as easy to decode when the two came together 10 years later.

A Caesar cipher just shifts the alphabet 2 to 26 positions. To understand the added security i created the attached table showing the Cipher 2 message...I HAVE DEPOSITED IN THE COUNTY...and the shifted/cycled message through all 26 positions. You can see only the original message is readable, all the rest are gibberish.

In the left column I created a gibberish detector using the standard word model used for frequency analysis. I added conditional formatting to turn the cell green, yellow or red.

You can see that a Caesar cipher provides very good security. Had TB used a Caesar cipher in conjunction with the substitution book cipher, even a correctly numbered DOI would have produced gibberish instead of a readable message that it did

So even the anonymous friend would not have solved Cipher 2.

 

[johnnyrev]

As my original post indicated, the intent of creating the three ciphers and keys and separating them by 750 miles was to prevent Robert Morriss or anyone else from finding the treasure while Thomas Beale was still alive. However, after 10 years when the ciphers and the keys are brought together, the intent changes where TB would have made it easy for RM to decode the ciphers, locate the treasure and distribute it to the heirs.

So I don't think TB used extra encryption such as a vigenere or Gronsfeld cipher which both require keywords which would complicate RM's efforts to decode the ciphers and find the treasure.

TB could have used a Caesar cipher for added security and then compensated for the fixed offset when creating the key given to the person in st louis. The key with a Caesar cipher would have looked not different than a key without and still be just as easy to decode when the two came together 10 years later.

A Caesar cipher just shifts the alphabet 2 to 26 positions. To understand the added security i created the attached table showing the Cipher 2 message...I HAVE DEPOSITED IN THE COUNTY...and the shifted/cycled message through all 26 positions. You can see only the original message is readable, all the rest are gibberish.

In the left column I created a gibberish detector using the standard word model used for frequency analysis. I added conditional formatting to turn the cell green, yellow or red.

You can see that a Caesar cipher provides very good security. Had TB used a Caesar cipher in conjunction with the substitution book cipher, even a correctly numbered DOI would have produced gibberish instead of a readable message that it did

So even the anonymous friend would not have solved Cipher 2.

If you went to the trouble of creating a series of ciphers, how likely is it that there is a second copy of the actual keys? Additionally, if there was a letter in St. Louis rather than just outside the city at the personal home of the lawyer responsible for sending it, what is the likelihood that a second letter was sent to someone other than Morriss?

 

[chalkoutline]

If you went to the trouble of creating a series of ciphers, how likely is it that there is a second copy of the actual keys? Additionally, if there was a letter in St. Louis rather than just outside the city at the personal home of the lawyer responsible for sending it, what is the likelihood that a second letter was sent to someone other than Morriss?

Why stop at 2. There were 30 members in the party. Each may have given a copy to a trusted colleague.