Hawkynt

Nihilist Cipher

Russian revolutionary cipher combining Polybius square with additive key encryption for historical cryptography study.

Properties

Property	Value
Category	Classical Ciphers
Sub-category	Additive Cipher
Security status	🎓 Educational Only
Complexity	Intermediate
Inventor	Russian Revolutionaries
Year	1880
Origin	🇷🇺 Russia
Source	algorithms/classical/nihilist.js

Security

Status: 🎓 Educational Only

No vulnerabilities are recorded for this implementation.

Documentation

• Nihilist Cipher Wikipedia
• Classical Cryptography Guide

References

• Historical Cryptography
• Russian Revolutionary Ciphers

Test vectors

4 vectors ship with this algorithm and run in the test suite. Byte values are hexadecimal.

Vector 1 — Wikipedia worked example - square keyed ZEBRAS, additive key RUSSIAN, plaintext DYNAMITE WINTER PALACE

Field	Value
key	5a45425241532c5255535349414e
input	44594e414d49544557494e54455250414c414345
expected	33372031303620363220333620363720 34372038362032362031303420353320 36322037372032372035352035372036 36203535203336203534203237

Vector 2 — Plain A-Z square, key NIHILIST. No published source carries this value; it covers the unkeyed square

Field	Value
key	4e4948494c495354
input	41545441434b41544441574e
expected	34342036382036372033352034342034 39203534203838203437203335203735 203537

Vector 3 — Plain A-Z square, key RUSSIAN. No published source carries this value; it covers a key shorter than the message

Field	Value
key	5255535349414e
input	5245564f4c5554494f4e
expected	3834203630203934203737203535203536203737203636203739203736

Vector 4 — Plain A-Z square, key CZAR. No published source carries this value; it covers a key longer than half the message

Field	Value
key	435a4152
input	534543524554
expected	3536203730203234203834203238203939

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