Incredible teenage boy cracks coded coin in hours, but he isn’t the first
Within hours of its release to the general public, a 14-year-old boy had cracked the codes hidden on a coin released by an Australian intelligence agency - but some had solved them days earlier, due to an unusual legal rule.
A 50-cent coin celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) was released last Thursday containing four levels of codes with hidden messages.
But, the puzzles were already being discussed online ten days earlier, with some codes already being solved by August 20.
This was due to requirements on the Australian Government to include the characters featured on the coin in legislation, available online, before the coin was made available to purchase on September 1.
As well as a celebration of the agency’s history, it’s hoped the coin will act as a kind of recruitment drive and attempt to raise the profile of the ASD among the general public, with the agency planning to recruit another 1,900 people over the next decade as part of a $9.9 billion expansion.
Dr Richard Bean, a research fellow at the University of Queensland who solved the coin’s puzzles within two hours of getting his hands on it, said the move was about attracting those interested in a career with the ASD.
"The kind of people who would sit down and solve this kind of code on the coin, they're the kind of people the ASD wants to attract — innovative thinkers to solve difficult problems in cryptography in both an offensive and defensive sense," Dr Bean said.
"So solving other nation's codes and protecting Australian government communications security.
"It's about attracting the right candidates and putting the ASD in their mind, instead of having to go out in traditional recruitment channels."
But let’s go back to our teenage whiz kid.
Though the Tasmanian boy’s identity hasn’t been revealed, it’s clear he has talent and instinct according to Distinguished Professor Willy Susilo, who also directs the Institute of Cybersecurity and Cryptology at the University of Wollongong.
“[What] is very important is actually not about whether you can crack the code or not, [what] is important is the thinking behind it, how to solve this kind of puzzle,” he told the ABC.
“To me, I think to get a person who, especially in this case, is 14 years old, can crack the code within just one or two hours is actually incredible in my opinion.
"That really is the kind of skill needed in the Australian Signals Directorate."
Image: ASD