Solving FBI's 2008 Code Cracking Challenge
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a code cracking challenge today. This was in response to a similar challenge the FBI issued last year, which proved to be hugely popular with many thousands responding…
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a code cracking challenge today. This was in response to a similar challenge the FBI issued last year, which proved to be hugely popular with many thousands responding to the crypto challenge.
The FBI Code Cracking Challenge
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The FBI embedded the above code as a flash file. The code for all you cryptanalysts
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The FBI embedded the above code as a flash file. The code for all you cryptanalysts
VFWTDLCSWV. YD NSLMIJFWEJFD GSW SL NIJNQBLM FOBV EJFDVF DLNIGTFBSL.KBVBF YYY.AHB.MSK/NSCDC.OFZ FS EDF WV QLSY SA GSWI VWNNDVV.More resources to solve this challenge 2008 FBI Code Cracking Challenge: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/dec08/code_122908.html 2007 FBI Code Cracking Challenge: http://www.fbi.gov/page2/nov07/code112107.html Analysis of Criminal Codes and Ciphers: http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/jan2000/olson.htm Spoiler Alert: How to solve the 2008 FBI Crypto challenge ** try to solve this before scrolling down ** Solving FBI 2008 Crypto Challenge 1. An easy giveaway was the 5th line from the crypto picture embedded above YYY.AHB.MSK/NSCDC.OFZ substituting www for yyy. Another hint it is likely they were pointing to fbi.gov. So far we have Y - W A - F H - B B - I M - G S - O K - V 2. Substituting in the word before that URL. For KBVBF, we can deduct it is VISIT 3. Next word to guess is FOBV in the 3rd line. Substituting we can deduct is is THIS 4. Next word is YD on the first line. The only alphabet that made sense there is E. So we have D - E 5. Next, I would try to start solving any 2, 3, 4 alphabet groupings. Following is a screenshot of my whiteboard. The numbers on the left to each word represented the order in which i tackled the words [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="My Whiteboard"][/caption] Once you solve and substitute the cipher comes out as
Stupendous. We congratulate you on cracking this latest encryption. Visit www.fbi.gov/coded.htm to let us know of your success.Visiting the URL above gives us this
Congratulations, you did it! Thanks for participating, and happy holidays.[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Congratulations!"][/caption]