Developing a Practical Exercise on Secure Encryption and Decryption Using Character Transposition Algorithm

Information security plays a crucial role in the digital age, especially in communication and data exchange. To enhance students' understanding of encryption and decryption algorithms, this paper presents the development of a practical exercise applying the Rail Fence transposition cipher, which rearranges characters based on a virtual fence pattern. The practical exercise is implemented in MATLAB, allowing students to program, experiment, and visually verify the results. The exercise includes key steps such as algorithm design, data input, encryption-decryption processing, and result comparison to evaluate the algorithm's performance. In addition to mastering the principles of encryption, students are encouraged to analyze the security level of the algorithm to better understand its limitations and possible improvements in real-world applications. Experimental results demonstrate that this approach improves learning effectiveness, increases interaction between students and instructors, and provides a solid foundation for approaching more advanced encryption algorithms in the field of information security.