An Overview of Columnar Transposition Cipher: Features, Encryption, and Decryption

Understanding the Applications and Key Features of Columnar Transposition Cipher | Karthikeyan Nagaraj

Karthikeyan Nagaraj
3 min readApr 6, 2023

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Introduction:

  • In cryptography, transposition ciphers are a type of encryption method that involves rearranging the order of characters in the plaintext to produce the ciphertext.
  • Columnar transposition cipher is one such method that involves transposing the plaintext by columns before encrypting it.
  • This article aims to provide a comprehensive guide to columnar transposition cipher, including its key features, encryption process, decryption process, and use cases.

Key Features of Columnar Transposition Cipher:

  • Columnar transposition cipher is a type of transposition cipher that involves rearranging the plaintext by columns before encrypting it.
  • It is a symmetric-key cipher, meaning the same key is used for both encryption and decryption.
  • The key size of columnar transposition cipher can vary, and the key itself is a permutation of the numbers 1 through N, where N is the length of the plaintext.

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Karthikeyan Nagaraj

Entrepreneur | Writer | Cyber Security Consultant | AI Researcher