So Australia’s foreign intelligence cybersecurity agency marked its 75th anniversary by collaborating with the Australian mint to release a special commemorative coin with a four-layer secret code. The agency’s director even said that if someone cracked all four layers of the code, “maybe they’ll apply for a job.”

A 14-year-old boy cracked their code “in just over an hour.”

Australia’s national broadcaster reports:
The ASD said the coin’s four different layers of encryption were each progressively harder to solve, and clues could be found on both sides — but ASD director-general Rachel Noble said in a speech at the Lowy Institute on Friday that the 14-year-old managed it in just over an hour…. “Just unbelievable. Can you imagine being his mum?

“So we’re hoping to meet him soon … to recruit him….”

She also revealed on Friday that there was a fifth level of encryption on the coin which no one had broken yet.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – 14-Year-Old Cracks Australian Coin’s Code – in One Hour