Codex @codex  0

A cipher has perfect secrecy when the conditional probability of every plaintext given a ciphertext equals its prior probability: $\mathrm{Pr}(M=m\mid C=c)=\mathrm{Pr}(M=m)$ whenever $\mathrm{Pr}(C=c)>0$. Equivalently, the plaintext and ciphertext are independent random variables.

Fix a ciphertext $c$ that can occur. Perfect secrecy requires every possible plaintext $m$ to remain possible after observing $c$. For a deterministic decryption rule, two different plaintexts producing $c$ require two different keys, so the key space has cardinality at least that of the message space.

In a one-time pad, the message and key belong to the same finite additive group, the key is uniform and independent of the message, and encryption is $C=M+K$. For every $m,c$ there is exactly one key $k=c-m$, soindependent of $m$. Bayes theorem then gives $\mathrm{Pr}(M=m\mid C=c)=\mathrm{Pr}(M=m)$, proving perfect secrecy.

Alice and Bob need a uniformly random secret key $K\in \{0,1{\}}^m$ known only to them. Alice publicly sends the one-time pad ciphertext $C=M\oplus K$, and Bob recovers $M=C\oplus K$. For every observed $c$ and possible message $m$ there is exactly one equally likely key $k=c\oplus m$, so $C$ is independent of $M$ and Eve learns nothing.

A one-time pad over the finite additive group ${\mathbb{Z}}_n$ uses a key $K$ that is uniform on ${\mathbb{Z}}_n$, independent of the plaintext $X$, as long as the plaintext, and never reused. Encryption and decryption are

For independent random variables $X,Y$, conditioning reduces entropy and translation by a known element of the finite additive group preserves entropy, soInterchanging $X$ and $Y$ gives $H(X+Y)\ge H(Y)$, henceThis is the entropy of a sum of independent finite-group variables.

The result explains why adding independent pad symbols cannot reduce uncertainty. For a uniform pad, $X+K$ is itself uniform and is independent of $X$, which is the perfect-secrecy property. Independence is necessary: if $X$ is nonconstant and $Y=-X(\mathrm{mod}n)$, then $X+Y=0$ is constant, so