Question

Given the following columnar transposition system with key, for the plaintext "THIS IS AN EXAMPLE FOR THE QUIZ".

column_transposition
Assume the key: WHAT
What is the corresponding ciphertext?

a.IAAETUXHSXLRQXSNMFHIXTIEPOEZ
b.TIEPOEZHSXLRQXIAAETUXSNMFHIX
c.SIHTNASIMAXEFELPHTROIUQEXXXZ
d.IHSTASNIAXMEELFPTRHOUQIEXXXZ

Answer 1

The corresponding ciphertext for the given plaintext using a columnar transposition system with the key 'WHAT' is 'TIEPOEZHSXLRQXIAAETUXSNMFHIX'.

Step-by-step explanation:

A columnar transposition cipher involves rearranging the letters of the plaintext to create the ciphertext. In this case, the key used is 'WHAT'.

To encrypt the plaintext 'THIS IS AN EXAMPLE FOR THE QUIZ', we write it in rows under the key: W H A T
T H I S I S
A N E X
M A M P
L E F O
R T H
E Q U
I Z

Then, we read the columns from top to bottom and left to right, resulting in the ciphertext: TIEPOEZHSXLRQXIAAETUXSNMFHIX.