Q&A for How to Decipher a Secret Code

Look for the common letters which double up and see if you can find certain words as suggested by the article.

Steganography, ROT1, Transposition, Ceasar, Atbash, Monoalphabetic Substitution, Vigenère, Enigma to name a few.

The dots and dashes most likely refer to Morse Code, while the numbers will, as you pointed out, represent Roman numerals.

Try looking for symbols that double and/or singular symbols. If you try figuring those out first, you'll have a better chance of figuring out the code.

Yes. If you are writing a code, first use Cesar code and then translate to Morse code. If you are decoding, do the opposite.

Try looking for repeated strings of letters; you might find a separator to separate words or letters.

Find single letter words, which would have to be "I" or "a." Look for those in the bigger code words. Thats step one. Then try reading backwards or seeing a pattern in the letters -- placements of specific letters which seem random. Learn some basic ciphers. Apply the process of elimination. If none of that works, look for mathematical or logical theories.

Chances are, it's decoded like this - A=1, B=2, C=3... X=24, Y=25, Z=26. Each letter corresponds to their position in the alphabet.

One of the first ciphers that kids learn is this "letter number" cipher. You replace letters with a number, like A=1, B=2, C=3 et cetera. When encrypting, only letters will be encoded. Non-letters will be treated like spaces. When decrypting, numbers will be changed back to letters, hyphens will be removed, and the rest will act like spaces.

Use many levels of encryption and a keyword, a rail fence or another transposition cipher at the end. Check out the Germans' ADFGVX cipher. Use homophones for more common letters.

It could be Morse code, so try that. Morse code uses dots. If that doesn't work, try some basic methods, like the ones outlined in this article.

You should start with Atbash because it is the easiest, and then you can move on to more complicated codes, such as Caesar Shift, ROT13, Vigenere Cipher and Keyboard Code. Later on, you can work on codes using symbols and numbers, such as Morse Code, Pigpen Cipher, Binary Code and the ASCII. One of the most complex ones that you should also learn is Base64, which involves many steps.

Code breaking is the process of deciphering a secret code. When you've cracked the code, you've "broken" it. It's a term commonly used in the military.

Decipher each code one at a time. Then, put your answers together. If it doesn't make any sense, go over each of your answers and ensure that you deciphered the codes correctly.

Consult the suggestions in the article above and you will find many ways to decipher a secret code.

In that case it is possible that the code has more than one symbol for each letter (to make it harder to break.) It is also possible that it is no code at all, but just some random symbols or letters grouped together.

I think it's a substitution cipher where xlmuvhhrlm = confession. You might need the rest of the message to finish it, but that hint should get you started.

There are so many cipher codes, and so many more being created all the time, that it would be impossible to count.

Yes, encrypting messages using multiple codes is possible. For instance, you can encrypt a string using Caesar's box, then the resulting string by shortcode grid and so on. It can be decrypted if you follow individual decryption in the reverse order it was encrypted in.

Send a false message that has an obvious conclusion. If that conclusion manifests itself then you will know that your code has been broken.

Use different translators! if you can trace the language, use things like Google Translate for that language and try to solve it from there in the standard algorithm.

It depends on what type of numbers there are and how they are laid out. If there are spaces in between numbers that vary anywhere from 1-26, it's most likely the A1Z26 cipher, which can be solved by lining up the letters with there number values (a is 1 b is 2 c is 3 etc.). If it is just 0's and 1's, it might be using binary code. If there is a lot of numbers, it might be the Polybius square.

Using the A=0, A=26 method this would mean seismograph. A seismograph is a device that is used to measure and record details about earthquakes.