This definition of cribs from Patrick Lockerby is much more generic than the one I used.
Even in the stricter meaning of the word, there is no uniform method. It just becomes simpler when the suspecter cipher method is simpler.
Simple substitution ciphers may seem easy to resolve, but this is only true if the text is long enough, and one has a computer.
It is here that cribs are essential. They give away a few of the letters, usually high-frequency ones.
With homophonic ciphers, the gain from such a single crib is only a fraction of the gain in case of a simple substitution.
Modern encryption used for secure data transmission is fully crib-resistant. This is because a would-be interceptor has the capability to generate any number of plaintexts, and then see how these are encrypted. Still, with all that information he should not be able to decrypt any other encrypted text.
Even in the stricter meaning of the word, there is no uniform method. It just becomes simpler when the suspecter cipher method is simpler.
Simple substitution ciphers may seem easy to resolve, but this is only true if the text is long enough, and one has a computer.
It is here that cribs are essential. They give away a few of the letters, usually high-frequency ones.
With homophonic ciphers, the gain from such a single crib is only a fraction of the gain in case of a simple substitution.
Modern encryption used for secure data transmission is fully crib-resistant. This is because a would-be interceptor has the capability to generate any number of plaintexts, and then see how these are encrypted. Still, with all that information he should not be able to decrypt any other encrypted text.
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