TYB
‘Just unbelievable’: 14-year-old boy cracks spy code hidden on new 50c piece
A 14-year-old whizz kid has cracked the code on a new 50c coin — a puzzle the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) admitted was a good entry point for someone looking for a career in the field.
The newly-minted coin contains four unique layers of code which contain messages about the ASD.
The coin was launched on Thursday to commemorate the spy agency’s 75th anniversary and was reportedly cracked within an hour of its release.
“There‘s a challenge out there to see who can correctly break all the layers, and, would you believe it, yesterday the coin was launched at 8.45am; we put up our web form and said, ’Hey, if you think you’ve got the answers, fill in the form’,” Director-General Rachel Noble said.
“And believe it or not, a boy, 14 years old in Tasmania, was the first person in just over an hour to get all four layers right.
“Just unbelievable. Can you imagine being his mum?
“So we‘re hoping to meet him soon … to recruit him.”
Yesterday, Ms Noble said the ability to crack the code “might even be a pointer to a new career with us for those who can crack it”.
“If you love puzzles and solving problems, and if you can discover the messages on our 75th anniversary coin, then a career at ASD may be just what you‘re looking for,” she said.
Noble said the code echoed back almost 80 years, when Aussies communicated sensitive wartime information on pencil and paper.
“Back in World War II, our people, military and civilian, and mostly women … used pencil and paper to decode Japanese military codes, and then re-encode them to send them out to the allies to let them know where Japanese war fighters were,” she said.
“We have used that part of our history in different layers, which represent the progress of encryption and technology through our 75 years.”
https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/just-unbelievable-14yearold-boy-cracks-spy-code-hidden-on-new-50c-piece/news-story/8dd3346e25875fe5234f2c4dc95bc254
https://youtu.be/0naIHDHFO2o
FAA recommends he does a barrel roll