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UK Recruiting Codebreakers Via Social Networks

Posted by samzenpus on from the mysterious-stranger-list dept.

Demerara writes in with a story about a unique codebreaking competition sponsored by the UK government. "UK intelligence agency GCHQ has launched a code-cracking competition to help attract new talent. The organization has invited potential applicants to solve a visual code posted at an unbranded standalone website. The challenge has also been 'seeded' to social media sites, blogs and forums. A spokesman said the campaign aimed to raise the profile of GCHQ to an audience that would otherwise be difficult to reach. 'The target audience for this particular campaign is one that may not typically be attracted to traditional advertising methods and may be unaware that GCHQ is recruiting for these kinds of roles,' the spokesman said."

8 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. Break it - but don't take the job by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    that'll piss 'em right off!

  2. I've broken it! by Buchenskjoll · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's "passw0rd"

    --
    -- Make America hate again!
  3. There's a reason they're recruiting them... by Bottles · · Score: 5, Funny

    There's a reason they're recruiting them. And it's perfectly innocent. Honestly. http://earth101.net/?wc

    1. Re:There's a reason they're recruiting them... by c0lo · · Score: 4, Funny

      There's a reason they're recruiting them. And it's perfectly innocent. Honestly. http://earth101.net/?wc

      Actually, no, we don't kill them... we offer them a govt salary (25k)... they'll commit suicide.

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
  4. Re:Can I download it? by c0lo · · Score: 3, Funny

    You can however find the remaining part on the canyoucrackit website if you are clever...

    additionally, if you are smart, you'll probably choose to find yourself a better job/salary in the industry instead of picking a govt position during time of austerity.

    --
    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
  5. Re:Simple, use the hacker's favourite tool... by the_other_chewey · · Score: 4, Funny

    Bad news for GCHQ, I have no desire to work for the Government. I don't care what the renumeration package is.

    Not even if they offer free full IPv6 renumbering for life?

  6. Re:Oh the irony by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Funny

    And if you have a "correctly set up" Facebook account, the mail will go to the wrong person.

    Oh, the ironing.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  7. You're wrong by Kupfernigk · · Score: 4, Funny
    Once you get past the deliberately downbeat entrance and get to the management suite, it's all naked Russian whores, Jacuzzis, champagne fountains, all-you-can-eat Michelin starred restaurants, and cash machines that don't need a card, they just pay out on the secret budget.

    Of course, once you take the job and sign the Official Secrets Act, it's forty years of standing in freezing bus shelters waiting to make contact with a pissed-off FSB clerk in her 50s in the hope of finding out where Putin's going on holiday next month. Unless you went to Eton and Oxford, in which case it's back to the management suite for the rest of your career.

    --
    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."