Several of the characters in Viral use various ciphers to mask their communications. These range from the relatively simple rail fence and split rail ciphers to the much more complex ADFGVX cipher—the seemingly unbreakable code used by the German military during World War I—along with some home-grown varieties.

With the rail fence cipher, the plaintext is written downwards and diagonally on “rails” of a three-level imaginary fence. So the words “rail fence” would look like this:

And the code (reading left to right, across the three levels) would be: rfealecin

Hope this helps!

Cipher #1

A four-word phrase that Charles Mallory uses in Viral is a play on a common cliché. What is that phrase (hint: one of the words is “numbers”)?

TEASNEHRSEKESNUBREWNIMS
(Four words, Rail Fence Cipher)

Cipher #2

One of the guiding ideas behind the group that is driving the conspiracy in Viral is described in two words toward the end of the book. These are revealed in a conversation between Charles Mallory and his CIA liaison. What are those two words (hint: another way of saying it might be “defectless duplicity”?)

PEETEFCDCPINRTEO
(Two words, Rail Fence Cipher)

Need a hint? Check out this explanation of the Rail Fence Cipher from James Lilliefores!

A note from author James Lilliefors on ciphers:

Codes and ciphers have played an important role in world history since ancient times–from Julius Caesar’s “displacement” cipher to Nazi Germany’s notorious Enigma code to the seemingly unbreakable quantum encryption that is currently being developed. Interestingly, as ciphers have become increasingly sophisticated, simpler means of stealth communication–such as that employed by al Qaeda before 9/11–have been used to bypass multi-billion-dollar signals interception systems. I’ve been interested in codes and ciphers since I was a kid, when I used to trade coded messages with friends.

In Viral, ciphers become the means through which Charles and Jon Mallory are able to communicate without being detected. Although the ciphers Charles sends to Jon are not inherently complex, he uses keys that are known only by the two of them–based on childhood experiences, for instance–making their communiqués much more difficult to break. The ciphers become something of a metaphor for the complicated and distant relationship between the two brothers.