Tool to decrypt/encrypt like in Gold-Bug automatically. The short story entitled The Gold-Bug from Edgar Allan Poe presents a substitution cipher.
Gold Bug Cipher 3‡0†2?3 - dCode
Tag(s) : Symbol Substitution
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Gold Bug Cipher 3‡0†2?3
Gold Bug Decoder
Gold Bug Encoder
Answers to Questions (FAQ)
What is the Gold-Bug cipher? (Definition)
The Golden Bug Cipher is a fictional cryptography system popularized by Edgar Allan Poe in his short story The Golden Beetle. He uses a substitution code mixing numbers and symbols to translate a coded message.
How to encrypt using Gold-Bug cipher?
To encode a message with the Golden Bug Cipher, use a mono-alphabetic substitution where each letter of the alphabet is replaced by another character, often a number or symbol, according to the conversion table:
| A | 5 | B | 2 | C | - | D | † | E | 8 | F | 1 | G | 3 | H | 4 | I | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J | , | K | 7 | L | 0 | M | 9 | N | * | O | ‡ | P | . | Q | $ | R | ( |
| S | ) | T | ; | U | ? | V | ¶ | W | ] | X | ¢ | Y | : | Z | [ |
Example: DCODE is crypted †-‡†8
How to decrypt Gold-Bug cipher?
To decode a message encrypted with the Golden Scarab, use the same substitution scheme used for encryption, but in reverse. Replace each symbol or number with the original corresponding letter.
Example: 3‡0† is decrypted GOLD
How to recognize Gold-Bug ciphertext?
The ciphered message contains the characters † or ‡ (dagger and double dagger), the symbol ¶ (pilcrow) and the 8 digit appears often as it replaces the letter E.
The index of coincidence is similar to the language of the plain text.
Any reference to an insect/bug and especially a golden beetle is a clue.
Any mentions of Edgar Allan Poe's Extraordinary Stories, of his hero William Legrand or the treasure of Captain Kidd are also clues.
In the book the secret message is: 53‡‡†305))6*;4826)4‡.)4‡);80 6*;48†8¶60))85;1‡(;:‡*8†83(88) 5*†;46(;88*96*?;8)*‡(;485);5*† 2:*‡(;4956*2(5*-4)8¶8*;40692 85);)6†8)4‡‡;1(‡9;48081;8:8‡1 ;48†85;4)485†528806*81(‡9;48 ;(88;4(‡?34;48)4‡;161;:188;‡?;
What are the variants of the Gold-Bug cipher?
Edgar Allan Poe suggests other alphabets with the same symbols, especially one in another book a few word on secret writing here (affiliate link)
When was Gold-Bug cipher invented?
The Gold-Bug story was published in June 1843.
Source code
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