Technology

Is This the Coolest Job Audition Ever? ‘Can You Crack It?’

British Intelligence Agency Launches Code Cracking Campaign to Help Find Job Candidates

LONDON (The Blaze/AP) — What if you could help put resume sifting aside and increase your chances to land an interview by answering just one question: Can you crack the code?

That‘s the question Britain’s electronic listening agency, the Government Communications Headquarters, is asking in an online campaign to find the next generation of cyber specialists, although it has said it’s not going to be the only factor giving potential candidates an edge to earn a job.

GCHQ quietly launched a cryptic website last month featuring a box of code made up of numbers and letters. There is no branding on the site, only the phrase “Can you crack it?”

The agency has now revealed it is behind the campaign, and said Friday it’s trying to reach individuals with “a keen interest in code breaking and ethical hacking” for careers at GCHQ.

“It’s to arouse interest in people who perhaps might not be caught by our normal recruitment campaigns,” a GCHQ spokesman said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

In the Guardian, a spokesperson was reported as saying that with the fast moving digital market the company hopes this form of “recruitment” will allow it to “engage with prospective candidates in new and innovative ways.”

Cracking the code reveals a keyword, which when entered into a space on the website prompts the GCHQ job-recruitment website to appear.

The agency is currently recruiting for cyber security specialists — at a pay grade of around 25,000 pounds ($39,000) — and hopes to recruit around 35 people over the next few months, the spokesman said.

More than 50 people have successfully cracked the code so far — of which 80 percent have submitted an application, the spokesman said.

“With the threats to information and computer technology constantly evolving, it is essential that GCHQ allows candidates who may be self taught, but have a keen interest in code breaking and ethical hacking, to enter the recruitment route too,” it said in a statement.

But career hackers beware: “Anyone applying who has hacked illegally will not be eligible to continue in the recruitment process,” GCHQ warned.

And gaming the website isn‘t a guarantee for joining GCHQ’s ranks. The spokesman said that while anyone who cracks the code likely has an aptitude for GCHQ’s type of work, it won’t catapult code-crackers ahead of other job applicants automatically.

The agency said it has been using social media to get the word out and that the site has attracted about 8,000 hits.

The Guardian reports that the agency has used unconventional scouting methods before, running an ad campaign in online games in 2007 for those interested in a career in “British intelligence.”

Comments (76)

1 2
  • freeweever
    Posted on December 3, 2011 at 9:41am

    It is Your Hired

    Report Post » freeweever  
    • iguanadon
      Posted on December 3, 2011 at 11:27am

      Considering it would be “You’re”, it‘s obvious you’re not going to crack the code.

      Besides, everyone knows it’s “Drink Your Ovaltine”.

      Report Post »  
    • bry
      Posted on December 4, 2011 at 4:55pm

      LOL! You must have a decoder ring.

      Report Post » bry  
    • bry
      Posted on December 4, 2011 at 4:57pm

      B…I…N…G…O!

      I win!!!

      Report Post » bry  
    • ireport uderide
      Posted on December 5, 2011 at 7:45am

      Thanks FreeWeever you saved me from having to google this…lol.

      Report Post » ireport uderide  
  • flatdaddio
    Posted on December 3, 2011 at 8:09am

    since there are 16 bits across and 10 words high, my guess it will be a 10 letter word….

    Report Post »  
    • imperative
      Posted on December 3, 2011 at 5:43pm

      There are 16 character pairs across, not 16 bits. Each character is presumably hexadecimal, but certainly not binary. So each character requires 4 bits, which means that each pair requires 8 bits.

      Since there are 16 character pairs per row, and pair is 8 bit, each row would be 128 bits.

      This means that each row has 3.402823669209385e+38 different possible combinations if I’ve figured everything correctly.

      Report Post »  
    • VoteBushIn12
      Posted on December 3, 2011 at 9:46pm

      The field has a max of 16 letters. So I am guessing 16 letter word. Kind of stumping me at the moment though…

      Report Post » VoteBushIn12  
    • ComradeAdam
      Posted on December 4, 2011 at 11:10pm

      If they were bits each two letter/digit combo would be a representation of a 0 or a 1. I think a knowledge of machine code and Boolean algebra are needed to crack the code. The job seems to have to do with ethical hacking. Hacking is done by altering code at the coding foundatiion.(machine code) Bookean Algebra is used in hardware design of curcuit logic and uses the letters 0-9 and the letters A-F the represent much larger numbers made up of 0s and 1s.

      Report Post » ComradeAdam  
  • grayling646
    Posted on December 3, 2011 at 1:24am

    Ah, I broke it!!!! But I don‘t want to have to move to Britain so Let’s just say I’m joking, OK?

    Report Post »  
  • ICRedifURBlue
    Posted on December 3, 2011 at 1:16am

    Let’s see………aahhhhhh…………42 !!!!!!!

    Report Post »  
    • loriann12
      Posted on December 3, 2011 at 6:50am

      I knew the answer was 42, but what’s the question?

      Report Post »  
    • cykoaudio
      Posted on December 3, 2011 at 11:55pm

      if the answer is 42,the question is…what is the answer to to life,death,the universe and everything??…(my shortest post ever)

      Report Post » cykoaudio  
  • Nukeman60
    Posted on December 3, 2011 at 1:14am

    If you crack the code, take the answer and look at it in a mirror. It says “We will get that P***K for sending back the Churchill bust”.

    Report Post »  
  • ME
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 11:50pm

    =
    Pr0t3ct!on#cyber_security@12*12.2011+

    but could not get past the first question in the interview so I thought some of you might like a try:)

    I will go back to being the idiot that can not spell now:) because most people think there is spelling on an IQ test:(

    Report Post » ME  
  • Cosmos102
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 10:19pm

    Surely Bond, James Bond gets paid more than 39 grand a year? Even starting out.

    Report Post » Cosmos102  
  • AmerNDN10
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 9:48pm

    simple! the answer is 1

    LOL

    Report Post » AmerNDN10  
    • A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
      Posted on December 2, 2011 at 10:12pm

      “Cyber crime” is not a national crisis, folks. Government is trying to paint it as one so they can convince people it’s in their best interest to allow Big Brother to monitor the Internet.

      Don’t fall for this America.

      If anyone wants to try to crack it, the text of the picture is below. I hope it’s all correct.

      See here.

      eb 04 af c2 bf a3 81 ec | 00 01 00 00 31 c9 88 0c
      0c fe c1 75 f9 31 c0 ba | ef be ad de 02 04 0c 00
      d0 c1 ca 08 8a 1c 0c 8a | 3c 04 88 1c 04 88 3c 0c
      fe c1 75 e8 e9 5c 00 00 | 00 89 e3 81 c3 04 00 00
      00 5c 58 3d 41 41 41 41 | 75 43 58 3d 42 42 42 42
      75 3b 5a 89 d1 89 e6 89 | df 29 cf f3 a4 89 de 89
      d1 89 df 29 cf 31 c0 31 | db 31 d2 fe c0 02 1c 06
      8a 14 06 8a 34 1e 88 34 | 06 88 14 1e 00 f2 30 f6
      8a 1c 16 8a 17 30 da 88 | 17 47 49 75 de 31 db 89
      d8 fe c0 cd 80 90 90 e8 | 9d ff ff ff 41 41 41 41

      Report Post »  
    • A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
      Posted on December 2, 2011 at 10:35pm

      Hexadecimal to Decimal:

      235 4 175 194 191 163 129 236 | 0 1 0 0 49 201 136 12
      12 254 193 117 249 49 192 186 | 239 190 173 222 2 4 12 0
      208 193 202 8 138 28 12 138 | 60 4 136 28 4 136 60 12
      254 193 117 232 233 92 0 0 | 0 137 227 129 195 4 0 0
      0 92 88 61 65 65 65 65 | 117 67 88 61 66 66 66 66
      117 59 90 137 209 137 230 137 | 223 41 207 243 164 137 222 137
      209 137 223 41 207 49 192 49 | 219 49 210 254 192 2 28 6
      138 20 6 138 52 30 136 52 | 6 136 20 30 0 242 48 246
      138 28 22 138 23 48 218 136 | 23 71 73 117 222 49 219 137
      216 254 192 205 128 144 144 232 | 157 255 255 255 65 65 65 65

      Report Post »  
    • A Doctors Labor Is Not My Right
      Posted on December 2, 2011 at 10:58pm

      Dang it, @Skree, you ruined it for me!

      No reason to do it, now. Pshh.

      Report Post »  
  • Psychosis
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 8:13pm

    its obamas true identity …………………hes a gremlin ………keep him away from real work

    Report Post » Psychosis  
    • leftisneverright
      Posted on December 2, 2011 at 8:58pm

      I think I’ve cracked it!
      It is a quote from Confucius!

      “He who go to bed with itchy butt, wake up with shtinky finga!”

      Report Post »  
  • dread_pirate_roberts
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 6:26pm

    I did

    Report Post » dread_pirate_roberts  
  • tharpdevenport
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 6:23pm

    Is it really a challenge if three random Blaze members cracked it within hours of the story being posted? (assuming they didn’t cheat and just find the code posted elsewhere and paste it here)

    Report Post » tharpdevenport  
  • The_Midas_Curse
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 6:16pm

    The final answer is an URL to a job application

    Report Post » The_Midas_Curse  
  • crusherslady
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 6:08pm

    It says: IF YOU CAN READ THIS, YOUR HIRED

    Report Post »  
  • Secessionista
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 5:33pm

    Why would I want to apply for a job that pays me one quarter of what I already make?

    Report Post » Secessionista  
  • TheBloodOfTyrants
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 5:24pm

    Pr0t3ct!on#cyber_security@12*12.2011+

    Report Post » TheBloodOfTyrants  
  • Skree
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 5:23pm

    Stage One
    Was an image
    With hidden base64 encoded message in it
    You needed to dump the hex out of mem

    Stage Two
    You needed to write a virtual cpu
    I found that quite hard
    Not done it before
    and they hid something in your comp memory

    Stage Three
    A binary file, which attempted to download a couple of license files you needed to find the links to
    its quite complex

    Eventually you get this code:
    Pr0t3ct!on#cyber_security@12*12.2011+

    Report Post »  
  • Skree
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 5:22pm

    Enter this at the web site:

    Pr0t3ct!on#cyber_security@12*12.2011+

    Report Post »  
  • RejectFalseIcons
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 4:51pm

    British Intelligence only pays 40 grand a year? Yeah, that’s about right when you consider all they do is read email from @cia.gov, @nsa.gov and @af.mil. So glad we’re the world police.

    Report Post » RejectFalseIcons  
  • Champ
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 4:49pm

    This is Hexidecimal. I hope its not as simple as looking the codes up on an ASCII chart. If it is, I’ll be sorely disappointed.

    Report Post »  
    • Champ
      Posted on December 2, 2011 at 5:04pm

      I feel better now. If I convert it strati to ASCII, its mostly junk characters, and the first line only contains 3 alpha-numeric characters, 7, Q and X. I highly doubt its a strait hex to ascii conversion.

      Report Post »  
    • JohnGalt
      Posted on December 2, 2011 at 6:17pm

      I thought the same thing,, also looked at octal and decimal nothing as yet. But I found it interesting the ff ff ff is the hex # for white.

      Report Post » JohnGalt  
  • miketheartist
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 4:46pm

    The cake is a lie, blue pill!

    http://www.BttHS.com

    Report Post » miketheartist  
  • lukerw
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 4:46pm

    I saw this in a Movies… where only Autistic Kids could read it!

    Report Post » lukerw  
  • Ok-Sure
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 4:43pm

    50 answered correct out of 8,000 hits on the site. We’ll say 75% of those hits took an honest whack at cracking this “code” while the other 25% hit the back button and continued on. (I would assume the percentage is even less than 75%) So we’ll say about 6000 people looked at this code for more than a minute, many of which i would assume gave up soon after that, most people do not strain over something which has no incentive other than self motivation. So now if 50 of the people who sort of tried and who tried really hard solved this puzzle were successful. I would think they would make it a little more difficult…. About 1% of those who tried the puzzle were sucessful.

    Although i did look at it for about 75 seconds before i got dizzy, fell out of my chair and ejected the contents of my stomach all over my desk. So…. maybe its harder than i thought.

    Report Post »  
  • integrican
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 4:36pm

    Got it!!!
    British Government:
    “We can now see that our political correctness has allowed the Islamists to infiltrate our society in huge numbers and have very bad intentions for us, but it’s too late, we’re doomed!!!”

    Report Post » integrican  
  • V-MAN MACE
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 4:34pm

    Perhaps I could crack it, seeing as how I know the matrix to crack any code using the golden ratio and vortex mathematics, but I’m not doing it for YOU criminals.

    Report Post » V-MAN MACE  
    • 82dAirborne
      Posted on December 2, 2011 at 6:39pm

      Or you could just find the answer on the ‘net like I did. Not hard to do if you can click a mouse!

      Report Post » 82dAirborne  
  • Gold Nugget
    Posted on December 2, 2011 at 4:32pm

    I cracked it!
    Be sure to drink your Ovaltine

    Report Post »  
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