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Ciphers and Cybersecurity in other fields

Students will learn about basic cryptography and how it relates to cybersecurity.

Elementary - High School

1 hour

Explain the history behind ciphers (Khan Academy Caesar Cipher Video)
Have students use a cipher wheel to decrypt given phrases.

How to decrypt:
- Line up the letter ‘A’ on the inner wheel with the number of the key on the outer wheel.
- Find the first letter of the encrypted phrase on the outer wheel. Write down the letter on the inner wheel that lines up with it (this is the decrypted letter)
- Repeat step 2 with each letter until you see the decrypted phrase.
Have students use a cipher wheel to encrypt phrases that they come up with.

How to encrypt:
- Come up with a phrase you would like to write in code.
- Choose a number to use as your key, then line up this number on the outer wheel with the ‘A’ on the inner wheel.
- Find the letter of your phrase on the inner wheel, then write down the letter on the outer wheel that lines up with it.
- Repeat step 3 for every letter in your phrase.
Students can pair up to encrypt/decrypt phrases that their partner comes up with.

Ask your students questions and have them reflect on which/how cybersecurity principles relate to the activity.
- In this lesson, we saw how encryption can be used for data hiding. Multiple encryption rounds can also be used as for layering.

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