Q&A for How to Create Secret Codes and Ciphers

Yes, there are a variety of secret code generators. You can use something like a simple cipher wheel, or find a code generator online.

Some of the most famous secret codes in history include the Caesar shift, The Vigenère square, and the Enigma machine.

One easy way to do it is to print out a premade cipher wheel template. The cipher wheel consists of 2 circles with the letters of the alphabet written along the outer edges. Place the smaller circle on top of the larger one and fasten them together with a split pin. Turn the inner wheel so that one of the letters lines up with the letter of your choice on the outer wheel (such as Z and C), then pin the wheel in place so you can use the wheel as a guide when writing your cipher!

if it's someone who you don't want knowing, make a new code and tell all others involved that the code's been changed. If you don't mind the person knowing, explain it to them, and extend your 'inner circle'.

It can be used to keep something in secret (in a group of for yourself, commonly used in diaries) or share information unnoticeable with a group of people in front of other people. This is actually really fun to create and use, especially if you add your own twist to it.

You can find out secret codes using Omniglot. I recommend this website as it gives the real script of all the languages in the world.

Yes you can, as long as the receiver has instructions on how to decode it.

Tap your foot to correspond with the dots and dashes, or write down dots and dashed to create a secret message, and pass that to the person you wish to communicate with.

Create a new code or modify the original code, and tell everybody but that one person that it has been modified.

You don't need friends to use codes and ciphers. You can use codes and ciphers to create messages for only yourself. Just make sure you don't forget the code.

You can tap your finger on your desk to communicate in code (like Morse code), or pretend to drop a pencil with the note around it, or just drop a piece of paper and try to kick it towards your friend.

Alter the code slightly so only the intended people can decipher it.

When you give them the code, they'll know the date. They'll put it under the letters, backtrack it accordingly and voila, the code's message.

It will not as long if the key is written as a hint. If the key is written normally and the 'enemy' knows how the code works, then it is useless.

The substitution cipher is great for simplicity.

Try combining 2 simpler codes together to get a relatively easy to cipher code most won't understand.

When you are hiding a secret you don't want everybody know about, secret codes can help. You might want to use code when communicating with others familiar with the code, writing in a journal, or recording information.

Morse code will be easier, taking maybe an hour of practice to be fairly fluent and a few days to have it fully locked in. Binary can be a bit harder, but also doable for the average brain.

If someone finds out your code, you will have to change it. Make sure to let the other people involved with the code know about the changes.

You can assign letters to the numbers, like a=1, b=2, c=3, etc.

Every letter/symbol has its own corresponding ASCII code. And every ASCII code can be converted into binary code. To encrypt a text, first, convert each letter into ASCII format then convert that ASCII code into binary. To decrypt it reverse the process; convert the binary string into ASCII codes then ASCII codes back to their corresponding letters. For example: Letter: A, ASCII: 65, 65 in binary: 1000001.

Look for the most common letters in the alphabet: E, A and T. These will be repeated often.

The first code was made by Julius Caesar. It is also the most common code.

Ask your friends, cousins, parents, or siblings to try crack the secret message, to try to find somebody who is good at cracking codes If they cannot do it, well done! If they can, you need to start over.

Highlight commands from the Command History, right-click, and select Create Script. Click the New Script button on the Home tab. Use the edit function. For example, edit new_file_name creates (if the file does not exist) and opens the file new_file_name .

Have your friends or siblings try to crack the cipher. Your message could be a sentence that uses all the letters in your alphabet.

Have your friends or siblings help try to crack it. Hold a snacks-and-cracks afternoon to attract them!

You can either teach them how to use your code, or show them the key / code book you made. They can use your guide as a sort of instruction manual for reading your secret code.

The beauty of secret codes is that you can be as creative as you want when making them! So if you want to use pictures instead of code words or letters to represent a certain word or phrase, that can definitely work. For example, an apple could be "Hi," while a cat represents the word "walk." It's likely best if the picture doesn't explicitly represent the word (i.e. a picture of a bee actually representing the word "bee"). The more abstract the pictures are in relation to their meanings, the more difficult your code will be to crack.