A Hybrid Caesar-Polybius Cipher with XOR Operation for Enhanced Cryptography

Abstract

Cryptography is a technique that deals with securing data and is closely affiliated with information theory, computer security, and engineering. However, with the presence of adversaries that uses powerful computers, the need to increase the complexity of cryptographic techniques arises. This paper employed and hybridized the two commonly used ciphers in the literature, namely the Polybius square and the Caesar cipher, to ensure more secure data. To increase the strength of the hybrid cipher, the ciphertext generated by the Polybius square is XORed. Simulation results revealed that the proposed method generates a unique ciphertext that shows no trace of any pattern from the plain text, thus, devoid of being attacked by frequency analysis or by brute force.