Classical ciphers | National Security Agency encryption devices
DRYAD
The DRYAD Numeral Cipher/Authentication System (KTC 1400 D) is a simple, paper cryptographic system employed by the U.S. military for authentication and for encryption of short, numerical messages. Each unit with a radio is given a set of matching DRYAD code sheets. A single sheet is valid for a limited time (e.g. 6 hours), called a cryptoperiod. A DRYAD cipher sheet contains 25 lines or rows of scrambled letters. Each line is labeled by the letters A to Y in a column on the left of the page. Each row contains a random permutation of the letters A through Y. The letters in each row are grouped into 10 columns labeled 0 through 9. The columns under 0, 1, 2 and 5 have more letters than the other digits, which have just two each. While crude, the DRYAD Numeral Cipher/Authentication System has the advantage of being fast, relatively easy and requires no extra equipment (such as a pencil). The presence of more cipher-text columns under the digits 0, 1, 2 and 5, is apparently intended to make ciphertext frequency analysis more difficult. But much of the security comes from keeping the cryptoperiod short. DRYAD can be used in two modes, authentication or encryption. (Wikipedia).
