When I started to write The Code Book, it seemed natural to me that a book about the history of codes and codebreaking should contain some coded messages to stretch the mind of the reader. Before continuing, for those of you intending to complete the Cipher Challenge for yourself, I must warn you that this page contains spoilers! If you want to know more about the background to the Cipher Challenge then you can start by reading the rest of this introductory page, or you will find articles about the Challenge in The Telegraph, The Hindu, you will find out how it was cracked, and an archive of material published during the competition. Although the solutions are now public knowledge, you might want to exercise your brain and crack a few of them. You can also find the actual ciphertexts on-line.
This section also contains the final leaderboard, which shows who cracked what, and a small gallery of photos that relate to the cipher challenge. It also contains essays by Jim Gillogly and John Palagyi, who might be considered as runners-up, and a highly readable 40-page report by the Swedish team who solved the Challenge (see below). This part of the website attempts to tell the story behind the Cipher Challenge. The Challenge was officially solved on October 7, 2000, after one year and one month of arduous effort by codebreakers, amateur and professional, around the world.
In addition to the intellectual reward of cracking all ten messages, there was a prize of £10,000 for the first person to solve the Challenge. In addition to stories of intrigue and warfare, Simon Singh also investigates other codes, the unravelling of genes and the rediscovery of ancient languages and most tantalisingly, the Beale ciphers, an unbroken code that could hold the key to a $20 million treasure.The Cipher Challenge was a set of ten encrypted messages to be found at the end of The Code Book, a history of codes and code breaking that I published last year. The betrayal of Mary Queen of Scots and the cracking of the enigma code that helped the Allies in World War II are major episodes in a continuing history of cryptography. Click here to purchase from Rakuten Kobo The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptographyįrom the best-selling author of Fermat's Last Theorem, The Code Book is a history of man's urge to uncover the secrets of codes, from Egyptian puzzles to modern day computer encryptions.Īs in Fermat's Last Theorem, Simon Singh brings life to an anstonishing story of puzzles, codes, languages and riddles that reveals man's continual pursuit to disguise and uncover, and to work out the secret languages of others.Ĭodes have influenced events throughout history, both in the stories of those who make them and those who break them.
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