ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Product cipher

A product cipher is like a secret code for messages. You know how sometimes you and your friends have secret codes where you switch letters or words around so only you can understand what you're saying? A product cipher is a lot like that, only it's made up of two different secret codes.

The first code is called a substitution cipher, where each letter in the message is replaced with another letter or symbol. For example, the letter "A" might be replaced with "X," and "B" might be replaced with "Z." The second code is called a permutation cipher, where the order of the letters in the message is changed.

This might sound really complicated, but it's actually pretty simple. It's like taking a message and first mixing up the letters so that they don't make any sense, and then rearranging them in a different order. The end result is a message that looks like a bunch of random letters and symbols, but only someone who knows the two secret codes can decode it and read the real message.

People use product ciphers to send secret messages that they don't want anyone else to read. It's like having your own secret language that only you and your friends can understand.