Back method5.shtml Next Secret-Key Encryption Algorithms Based on the fact that only sender and receiver know the secret key. A simple example of a secret-key encryption: create a key (a random string) perform an XOR between the characters in the key and characters of the encrypted message to decode the message, perform an XOR on the encrypted message with the same key original string 101111 key 101010 encrypted string 000101 --- transmission --- encrypted string 000101 key 101010 original string 101111 The XOR algorithm is a polyalphabetic substitution cipher. Considered a weak algorithm as there are methods to derive the key and the clear text from the encrypted text. Copyright 1997 by Slackers Union. Comments should go to any of the group members. Opinions reflected on this page are by no means opinions of UCSD. Go sue somebody else. Last Modified: June 1, 1997