Historical frequency analysis method developed by Al-Kindi (Alkindus) in 9th century Baghdad. First systematic approach to cryptanalysis using statistical analysis of letter frequencies to break substitution ciphers.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Category | Classical Ciphers |
| Sub-category | Frequency Analysis |
| Security status | 🎓 Educational Only |
| Complexity | Beginner |
| Inventor | Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi |
| Year | 850 |
| Origin | 🏛️ Ancient |
| Source | algorithms/classical/al-kindi-frequency.js |
Status: 🎓 Educational Only
Educational cryptanalysis tool demonstrating frequency analysis principles. Shows vulnerability of simple substitution ciphers to statistical attacks.
| Issue | Description | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Limited Scope | Only effective against simple substitution ciphers | — |
| Language Knowledge | Requires knowledge of plaintext language frequency patterns | — |
2 vectors ship with this algorithm and run in the test suite. Byte values are hexadecimal.
Vector 1 — Caesar Cipher Analysis (ciphertext shifted by 3, recovered by frequency analysis)
Source: Historical cryptanalysis examples
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
language |
english |
input |
574b5256204c562044205648465548572050485656444a48 |
expected |
54484f53204953204120534543524554204d455353414745 |
Vector 2 — Substitution Analysis
Source: Educational examples
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
key |
656e676c697368 |
input |
48454c4c4f20574f524c44 |
expected |
454249494c20544c4f4941 |