Both are careful with security, the recent Snowden case notwithstanding. “But I’m not sure the CIA or NSA is behind Cicada.
#Outguess cicada code#
“During the Second World War, the top-secret Government Code and Cypher School used crossword puzzles printed in The Daily Telegraph to identify good candidates for Bletchley Park,” he says. As GCHQ’s head of resourcing Jane Jones said at the time, “It’s a puzzle but it’s also a serious test – the jobs on offer here are vital to protecting national security.”ĭr Jim Gillogly, former president of the American Cryptogram Association, has been cracking similar codes for years and says it’s a tried and tested recruitment tactic.
#Outguess cicada series#
And in September this year, GCHQ launched the “Can You Find It?” initiative – a series of cryptic codes designed to root out the best British cryptographers.
#Outguess cicada crack#
Cybercom head Lt Gen Keith Alexander then challenged the world’s amateur analysts to crack it (it took them three hours). It wouldn’t have been the first time such tactics had been used.īack in 2010, for example, Air Force Cyber Command – the United States’ hacking defence force, based at Fort Meade in Maryland – secretly embedded a complex hexadecimal code in their new logo. “This is a dangerous organization,” he concluded, “their ways are nefarious.” With no other clues, it was also assumed by many to be a recruitment drive by the CIA, MI6 or America’s National Security Agency (NSA), as part of a search for highly talented cryptologists. And, one by one reported what they’d found: a poster, attached to a lamp post, bearing the cicada image and a QR code (the black-and-white bar code often seen on adverts these days and designed to take you to a website via your smartphone). Sat in Sweden, Eriksson waited as, around the globe, amateur solvers left their apartments to investigate. But the plot was about to thicken even more.” Once the countdown reached zero, at 5pm GMT on January 9, it showed 14 GPS coordinates around the world: locations in Warsaw, Paris, Seattle, Seoul, Arizona, California, New Orleans, Miami, Hawaii and Sydney. “This shared feeling of discovery was immense. “It was thrilling, breathtaking by now,” says Eriksson. A countdown clock and a huge picture of a cicada confirmed they were on the right path. By multiplying them together, the solvers found a new prime and a new website:. There, a robotic voice told them to find the prime numbers in the original image. “And the first hint that this might not just be the work of a random internet troll.” Although now disconnected, the phone line was based in Texas, and led to an answering machine. “This was definitely an unexpected turn,” he recalls. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.
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