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🔐 Mexican Army Cipher: A Python Cryptographic Adventure

Python Version License

Welcome to the Mexican Army Cipher – a unique cryptographic tool inspired by historical cipher techniques, reimagined for modern Python enthusiasts. Whether you're a cryptography hobbyist, a developer exploring secure encoding, or a recruiter seeking creative coders, this project offers a fascinating blend of history, math, and programming. Let's dive in!

🚀 Features

  • Dynamic Alphabet Rotation: Start with any letter to shuffle the cipher's base alphabet.
  • Multi-Ring Encryption: Encode messages across 4 configurable rings with custom offsets.
  • Dual Output Modes: Choose between numeric codes or hybrid text/number representations.
  • Randomized Encoding: Each character maps to multiple possible values for enhanced security.
  • Simple API: Straightforward encrypt() and decrypt() methods for easy integration.

🛠️ Technologies Used

  • Python 3.8+ (Core implementation)
  • Random Module (For cryptographic operations)
  • Git (Version control)
  • PyCharm IDE (Development environment)

⚡ Quick Start

Installation

git clone https://github.com/JoeHitHard/MexicanArmyCipher.git
cd MexicanArmyCipher

### Basic Usage
```python
from mexican_army_cipher import MexicanArmyCipher

# Initialize cipher with custom parameters
cipher = MexicanArmyCipher(
    start_letter='M',          # Base alphabet rotation point
    ring_offsets=[10,28,74,95],# Ring configuration
    encode_to_text=False       # Output format toggle
)

# Encrypt a message
plaintext = "Secret Message"
encrypted = cipher.encrypt(plaintext)  # Returns "11-2-17-20-76-15-..."

# Decrypt back to original
decrypted = cipher.decrypt(encrypted)  # Returns "secret message"

🌟 Sample Use Cases

  1. Secure Team Communication
    Encode sensitive project codenames during development sprints.

  2. Educational Tool
    Teach cryptography concepts with hands-on examples.

  3. API Key Obfuscation
    Add an extra layer of protection for sensitive strings.

  4. Capture-the-Flag Challenges
    Create engaging cybersecurity puzzles.

🔄 Dual Encoding Modes

Numerical Mode (Default)

# encode_to_text=False
cipher = MexicanArmyCipher('M', [10,28,74,95], False)
print(cipher.encrypt("Hello"))  # Output: "42-8-33-33-60"

Hybrid Text Mode

# encode_to_text=True
cipher = MexicanArmyCipher('M', [10,28,74,95], True)
print(cipher.encrypt("Hello"))  # Output: "1q-0h-1h-1h-2d"

🧠 How It Works (Briefly)

  1. Alphabet Rotation
    The cipher starts by rotating the standard alphabet based on your chosen letter (e.g., 'M' → "mnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijkl").

  2. Ring Configuration
    Four encryption rings are created with offsets that determine their rotational positions.

  3. Randomized Mapping
    Each plaintext character maps to multiple possible cipher values from different rings, chosen randomly during encryption.

Developed with ❤️ by Joseph Hit Hard
"In cryptography we trust, but we still verify!"