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Solving the Australian Signals Directorate cryptography challenge coin
- dang 4y agoRelated: Australian Signals Directorate coin code cracked by 14yo in 'just over an hour' - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32688802 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32688802 - Sept 2022 (100 comments)
- i_like_apis 4y agoLooks like the NSA puzzles are a lot harder.
- defrost 4y agoOr kids in Australia are smarter ... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao
- bamboozled 4y agoWhat does this link have to do with anything, it says he is an Australian-American mathematician originally from HK. Not sure how this works that smoothly to demonstrate your point.
- handspun 4y agoJust to clarify, his parents were from Hong Kong. Terrence was born, raised, and schooled in Adelaide, Australia. He completed his Bachelors and Masters at Flinders University by the age of 16.
- defrost 4y agoAs clarified by handspun Terry was born, raised, educated here in Australia - largely homeschooled he had support from the Australian public school and university system which did at the time a pretty decent job of lifting young talent, he was part of the same undergrad math club group that had Paul Erdos visiting that spawned a few crypto punks, cosmologists, math professors, etc.
- keyle 4y agoI don't think it aimed at being achievable only by few. They mentioned in the release of the coin that it was celebratory. So if it brings kids to being aware of such puzzles and gets the press to open more eyes to it, it's a bigger win than some super nerdy puzzle designed to hire future analysts.
- gilded-lilly 4y agoWithout spoiling anything, has anyone here solved it? I have no idea where to start. The answer I get for layer 1 seems ridiculous (just two characters).
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- sen 4y agoNot sure what type of clue you’re after, but all of layer 1 is on the “heads” side in its entirety if that helps… and gives you a very clear clue to what layer 2 involves.
- gilded-lilly 4y agoI have no experience in solving these types of puzzles/no background in math. Is it something I should be able to do?
- stblack 4y agoThe article mentions the use of CyberChef in cracking the puzzle. CyberChef is an online Swiss knife that merits a lotta love. https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/ https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/ Here is a GitHub repo of about 70 CyberChef recipes, and other related things: https://github.com/mattnotmax/cyberchef-recipes https://github.com/mattnotmax/cyberchef-recipes
- jameshart 4y agoFor clarification, this appears to be a cryptography-challenge coin, not a cryptography challenge-coin.
- goldenkey 4y agoTo elaborate, a challenge-coin would be awarded for achievement or entry into a prestigious group. The coin is usually decorative but contains no challenges in itself. In this case, the coin contains challenges, and anyone can purchase it - rather than it being awarded.