There is ample evidence showing that Bacon was indeed the author of Shakespeare's work and these works are riddled with baconian ciphers. He was very fond of and talented at creating and deciphering key word codes. Cryptography has become a very important part of computer technology and an integral part of the Internet. The ability to encrypt and decrypt information is crucial to secure financial transactions and even elementary forms of on-line privacy. For our purposes here, we will concentrate on simple ciphers and cryptograms as an exercise in using both sides of the brain.
Intuition plays a heavy role in the deciphering process.
Whether it is recognizing a pattern in the coded message, or simply remote viewing the cipher key, those who are adept at code-breaking have always credited their art to insightful means. While the bulk of deciphering remains in the analytical realms, the reasoning of the algorithm used to encode the message, both kinds of thought are useful in breaking a code. As an overview, here is some basic terminology used in the art of code-breaking. Cryptography is the science of keeping written messages secret. Cryptanalysis is the art of breaking the cipher, or retrieving the message without knowing the proper key.