Tool to decrypt/encrypt with XOR cipher (eXclusive OR), a moder cryptographic method that consists in encrypting a binary message with a repeated key using a XOR multiplication.
XOR Cipher - dCode
Tag(s) : Modern Cryptography
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XOR Cipher
XOR Decoder
XOR Calculator
Answers to Questions (FAQ)
What is the XOR cipher? (Definition)
XOR encryption is a symmetrical encryption/decryption method based on the use of the logical/binary operator XOR (also called Exclusive Or, symbolized by ⊕). The XOR cipher uses as operands the plain text and the key (previously encoded in binary/bit string).
The XOR operation takes 2 bits as input and returns one bit as output according to the following truth table: if the two bits are different, the result is 1, otherwise the result is 0.
How to encrypt using XOR cipher?
XOR is applied on binary data, if the message is text, encoding (conversion to ASCII or Unicode) must be performed.
Example: Encrypt the plain message 1001 with the key 10
Take the first bit of the plain text and the first bit of the key and multiply then using XOR operation to get the ciphered bit.
Example: 1 ⊕ 1 = 0
The operation is repeated with the second bit of the plaintext and the second bit of the key. At the end of the key, loop back to the first bit.
Example:
| Plain message |
| 1001 |
| Key (repeated) |
| 1010 |
| Encrypted message |
| 0011 |
How to decrypt XOR cipher?
XOR Decryption (UnXOR/DeXOR) is identical to encryption because the XOR operation is symmetrical (reverse XOR = XOR).
Example: 1001 ⊕ 1010 = 0011 and 0011 ⊕ 1010 = 1001
How to convert a text into binary?
dCode manages the conversion automatically, but by default the ASCII encoding table for classic characters (letters of the alphabet or numbers) allows each character to be coded by a number between 0 and 127, which is then converted to base 2 (binary). For accented or less common characters (symbols, emojis, etc.) dCode uses Unicode.
What is the truth table for XOR?
The truth table of the 2-parameter XOR logic function is:
| A | B | A xor B |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 1 | 1 | 0 |
How to recognize XOR ciphertext?
A xored message (XOR encrypted message) has no particularities, this makes it hard to detect.
It can be presented under binary form but also as ascii text.
Data in the form of a stream is well suited to XOR encoding.
What are the pros and cons of XOR?
The XOR operation is one of the basics of logical computing. Computer processors can perform this type of calculation immediately, billions of times per second, which is therefore useful if computing resources are limited.
The XOR operation has the advantage of being reversible and above all symmetrical by applying the same algorithm, which further simplifies the calculations.
XOR encryption provides some cryptographic security when the key is as large as the original message, otherwise XOR is vulnerable to known-plaintext attacks.
How to decipher XOR without the key?
Xor decryption without knowing the key is hard. It is possible to find all or a part of the key by knowing a part of the plain text. Else, there are no practical methods other than trying all the keys.
What are the variants of the XOR cipher?
XOR is compatible with the principle of autoclave cipher.
Source code
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Cite as source (bibliography):
XOR Cipher on dCode.fr [online website], retrieved on 2023-09-30,
- XOR Decoder
- XOR Calculator
- What is the XOR cipher? (Definition)
- How to encrypt using XOR cipher?
- How to decrypt XOR cipher?
- How to convert a text into binary?
- What is the truth table for XOR?
- How to recognize XOR ciphertext?
- What are the pros and cons of XOR?
- How to decipher XOR without the key?
- What are the variants of the XOR cipher?
