14-Year-Old Cracks Australian Coin's Code - in One Hour (abc.net.au) 58
So Australia's foreign intelligence cybersecurity agency marked its 75th anniversary by collaborating with the Australian mint to release a special commemorative coin with a four-layer secret code. The agency's director even said that if someone cracked all four layers of the code, "maybe they'll apply for a job."
A 14-year-old boy cracked their code "in just over an hour." Australia's national broadcaster reports: The ASD said the coin's four different layers of encryption were each progressively harder to solve, and clues could be found on both sides — but ASD director-general Rachel Noble said in a speech at the Lowy Institute on Friday that the 14-year-old managed it in just over an hour.... "Just unbelievable. Can you imagine being his mum?
"So we're hoping to meet him soon ... to recruit him...."
She also revealed on Friday that there was a fifth level of encryption on the coin which no one had broken yet.
A 14-year-old boy cracked their code "in just over an hour." Australia's national broadcaster reports: The ASD said the coin's four different layers of encryption were each progressively harder to solve, and clues could be found on both sides — but ASD director-general Rachel Noble said in a speech at the Lowy Institute on Friday that the 14-year-old managed it in just over an hour.... "Just unbelievable. Can you imagine being his mum?
"So we're hoping to meet him soon ... to recruit him...."
She also revealed on Friday that there was a fifth level of encryption on the coin which no one had broken yet.
Cryptocurrency (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Cryptocurrency (Score:5, Funny)
Well, at least the coin hasn't crashed in value yet.
It says seventy-five on the coin and it's value is 50 cents. In a press release, the Treasury has described this as "a correction".
Re: Cryptocurrency (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Best possible option now is to "perform a burn" to increase it's value.
Aussies everywhere, burn your cash now and watch it increase in value.
Re: (Score:3)
*Do make sure it's a valid, reliable source of info, e.g. from a respectable university that doesn't subscribe to some extreme neocon/neoliberal ideology.
Re: (Score:2)
Economists themselves have a poor understanding of the economy. Krugman admitted he was wrong on inflation (with a caveat - the models everyone uses he claims are wrong) [google.com] and globalization. [google.com] Eugene Fama (another Nobel laureate) said, "If I'm getting attacked by Krugman, I must be doing something right. [businessinsider.com]" Both of these are Nobel laureates.
It is generally accepted this inflation was caused by excessive money printing [vox.com], boosting total demand over what the economy could supply. Although several Nobel laureates seem [google.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Economists were feeling left out and created a new "Nobel Prize" as a means of getting some credibility.
The reality is that economics is not really science.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I don't think anyone is frustrated at them. Some economists use their positions and awards to issu
Re: Cryptocurrency (Score:2)
Pretty much all currencies are falling next to the USD. Economic turbulence tends to be better weathered by a reserve currency like the USD.
ASD (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Where everyone employed has Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Have you ever worked in a tech company?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
To be fair, Australia is part of 5eyes.
Re: (Score:2)
To be fair, Australia is part of 5eyes.
Of course, the only reason they invited New Zealand to be a member was to make the name sound better.
Re:Mums are Moms in Australia. (Score:5, Insightful)
This wasn't like the Kryptos sculpture [wikipedia.org] at the CIA building where the fourth code has stumped the world's cryptographers for the past 30 years.
This code was made to be broken by middle school and high school age students. The code was just hard enough that it took some work to decode it, then the individual had to be interested enough to actually send his solution to the ASD.
Remember, this was a fun recruitment and marketing tool, not a serious challenge to cryptographers.
Re:Mums are Moms in Australia. (Score:5, Informative)
Each stage literally tells you the algorithm and key for the next stage. The uncracked fifth layer is the exception.
Re: (Score:2)
Also, given time zones, I'd need a 24 hour notice, not a story after the fact
We were never the audience.
Re:Mums are Moms in Australia. (Score:5, Funny)
"This wasn't like the Kryptos sculpture at the CIA building where the fourth code has stumped the world's cryptographers for the past 30 years."
Actually, I have found an elegant solution to Kryptos' fourth code, but it is too lengthy to fit into this comment box.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
"So we're hoping to meet him soon ... to recruit him...."
To work at an intelligence agency that created a four-layer encryption code that was cracked by a 14-year-old kid in an hour.
Yeah, I think I'd wait for the call from Google.
Re: (Score:3)
Four layers of encryption on the face of a coin that is meant as a novelty and is meant to be reasonably easy to decode. What's the problem exactly?
Re: (Score:3)
Well, when I think of crack intelligence agencies around the world...I don't exactly think of Australia.
Why not? Is it ignorance? The NSA seems to think the ASD is special enough to warrant being part of a very limited agreement between 5 nations, and when setting this up did so in a way such that the ASD (not their name at the time) managed to keep the co-operative treaty secret even from the Australian government itself for over 20 years.
Re: (Score:2)
That's likely because we don't boast and pump our chests about it.
Re: (Score:2)
That's because you're an idiot who doesn't know anything about signals intelligence, I guess.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Did people think it was unsolvable or something? It's not guarding national secrets; it's a recruiting tool to get kids interested in cryptography and codes, and by the sounds of it, this 14 year old was just that! #successful
Re:Mums are Moms in Australia. (Score:4, Insightful)
Just unbelievable. Can you imagine being the ASD idiot who made it too easy?
Can you imagine being an internet dolt who criticises something as being too easy without realising the whole point of it was a marketing campaign to highschool kids in the form of a commemorative coin?
Re:Mums are Moms in Australia. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's a code on the face of a coin that is meant to be a novelty puzzle that has layers of complexity that starts off easy and gets harder. It's not a code that is meant to be unbreakable - what would the point of that?
Re: (Score:2)
I got the first two layers in five minutes. After that I couldn't be bothered to type in all that hex code.
I'm sure it's online somewhere by now, maybe I'll have another go.
Re: (Score:2)
It's meant as a recruiting tool, and seems to have had the desired effect. Both GHCQ and the CIA do similar things from time to time, too.
mercury is rising (Score:2)
mercury is rising
If the 14 year old is truly smart... (Score:2)
....they would know that working for someone else isn't the move.
Re: (Score:2)
I tell my kids that the best job you can get is the one you make for yourself.
Re: If the 14 year old is truly smart... (Score:3)
Yeah , because being self employed is just endless money on tap and no stress. Sure , you can pick your own hours - usually 12 hours a day 6 or 7 days a week unless you're a grifter hipster doing some non job in your pyjamas. Christ some people have no idea.
Re: (Score:3)
Agreed. It's this exact mentality that breeds hatred and jealousy towards business owners who work harder and longer than anyone else in their companies. These people have no idea what it takes to go into business for yourself. You're never "off the clock". I owned and ran my own business for over 8 years and it is not something I am eager to do again, particularly in California.
Re: (Score:2)
Gaining experience first can be valuable. Making a business of your own when you don't know much or anyone is quite rough.
Breaking The 5th Level (Score:2)
Why would they tell anyone that they did?
n2ch
Alan Turing (Score:2)
WAHT ARROGANCE (Score:2)
Who the hell wants to work for a shitty intelligence agency that cant even fool a 14 year old? No wonder they have problems.
Re: (Score:2)
Jesus fucking Christ it was a marketing tool targeted at school children. The only "fools" here are the ones thinking that this was intended to be some uncrackable code.
Who the hell wants to work for a shitty intelligence agency that cant even fool a 14 year old?
An intelligence agency so shit they formed a secret pact to co-operate with the CIA and NSA (at their request) that not even the Australian Government knew about for 25 years?
Please get a clue.
There's a fifth level... riiight (Score:2)
How convenient that they announce a "fifth level" of encryption right after the other four were broken. *cough* false-flag *cough*
5th level : break the coin like a fortune cookie (Score:2)
Then you will get access to a small piece of paper with the 5th level challenge.
Note that the piece of paper is soaked in cyanide to raise the level.
He would likely get a better offer (Score:2)
Ok (Score:2)
Instructions on how to solve it (Score:2)