FBI Issues Code Cracking Challenge

coondoggie writes to tell us that the FBI has issued another cracking challenge for a new cipher on their site. Tens of thousands responded to a similar challenge last year. In addition to the challenge, the FBI is also offering a few primers on the subject. There are a number of sites offering cipher challenges, but it's funny to see the FBI encouraging such behavior.

Comments

First Post

[Hadlock]

Love the article:
 
 

coondoggie writes to tell us that the FBI has issued another cracking challenge for a new cipher on their site. Tens of thousands responded to a similar challenge last year. In addition to the challenge the FBI is also offering a few primers on the subject. There are a number of sites offering cipher challenges, just funny to see the FBI encouraging...NO CARRIER

Hillarious.

Re:First Post

[HTH NE1]

Hillarious.

RING
RING
CONNECT 1200
|x{
NO CARRIER

Oh, the fun and prizes!

[Anonymous Coward]

The winner receives an all expense 1 way trip to the tropical island of Cuba!

Re:Oh, the fun and prizes!

[morgan_greywolf]

"You'll love our fun-filled resort on beautiful Guantanamo Bay!"

Meh. The resort is okay, but I hear the service is torture!

This will really piss of the Chinese

[Alain Williams]

or whichever foreign government owns the code that the FBI has just recruited the bright kids on the Internet to crack :-)

Harry you?

[BadAnalogyGuy]

Houdini was always searching for better, more clever ways to perform escape acts and illusions. After he would debut a new trick, others would immediately try to emulate the trick. The trick was on them, though, because Houdini would frequently expose their methods (because it was originally his) and prove himself to be the true master magician.

No difference here. Just the FBI gauging the abilities of the community.

Re:Harry you?

[Architect_sasyr]

Or maybe looking for recruits? I'd imagine that if you're an American then working for some agency which will go un-named you would be earning a stack of money, and if you're a foreign national then they're going to set you up with a visa and a passport and some covert operation to fly your geeky self into the United States. Thus maintaining the "best of the best" cryptographic team, or at least trying to.

Hate to see what happens to the guy who finds the flaw and then says "Sorry, I want to work for [the Chinese]"...

Link to the 2008 challenge

[root777]

The links in the article point to FBI challenges in 2007 and the kids challenge but do not point to the 2008 challenge.

Here is the FBI Cryptanalysis challenge 2008 http://www.fbi.gov/page2/dec08/code_122908.html

Other helpful links for reference
2007 challenge: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/nov07/code112107.html
Kids challenge: http://www.fbi.gov/kids/k5th/jobs9.htm

Re:Link to the 2008 challenge

[Chris Daniel]

Also, here's the code (transcribed a damn Flash file; wtf you guys):

VFWTDLCSWV. YD NSLMIJFWEJFD GSW SL NIJNQBLM FOBV EJFDVF DLNIGTFBSL. KBVBF YYY.AHB.MSK/NSCDC.OFZ FS EDF WV QLSY SA GSWI VWNNDVV.

Lameness filter ... it was presented in caps on the original, so it is presented as such here!

Re:Link to the 2008 challenge

[enFi]

Presuming that the text is all the information we need - maybe the got creative and did steganography, or a message hidden in the flash source.

I agree with the characters; if newlines are relevant:

VFWTDLCSWV. YD
NSLMIJFWEJFD GSW SL
NIJNQBLM FOBV EJFDVF
DLNIGTFBSL. KBVBF
YYY.AHB.MSK/NSCDC.OFZ
FS EDF WV QLSY SA
GSWI VWNNDVV.

FBI's "Add yourself to suspect database contest

[Jason Quinn]

Dear citizens: Please inform us if you have the talents necessary to be suspects in criminal cyber-cracking cases. That is all. Love, The FBI

A similar challenge for linux web servers...

[lamapper]

Reminds me of a security company that issued a hacking / cracking challenge somewhere between 3 and 8 years back, no way could I find this article...perhaps one of your ./ will provide a link...

The company offered over $10,000.00 for not only hacking and cracking their server, but showing the company how they did it.

If memory serves (and it sometimes does not) they paid out the first and second years of the challenge, but in year three no one successfully broke into their web server environment.

I believed they kept eliminating modules that had holes and were not needing and closing holes in modules that were needed.

Based on what I read, they were able to 100% successfully secure their web servers from attacks only because they were using Linux as the OS.

I remembered comparing their results with others attempts with other operating systems and really wanting to learn Linux.

Now that I am using Unix and Linux and have a better understanding of what they were doing I can see the simple genius in such challenges.

Whether just for security or for scouting talent, whatever their reasons, its money well spent when they offer cash prizes to the few that are successful!

Re:Fill in the blank

[morgan_greywolf]

Well, actually, I think it's supposed to be

I cracked it...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Be sure to drink your ovaltine"

What the hell does that mean?

Re:link to challenge

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow. Cryptograms in the newspaper are harder than that.

stupendous. we
congratulate you on
cracking this latest
encryption. visit
www.fbi.gov/coded.htm
to let us know of
your success.