The commemorative 50c piece, to mark the Australian Signals Directorate‘s 75th anniversary, features four unique layers of encryption which contain special messages about the intelligence agency.
However, just an hour after its release yesterday, a 14-year-old boy from Tasmania became the first to correctly crack the code, which features a combination of coding dating back thousands of years and more modern binary code.
During a Lowy Institute Q&A, ASD Director-General Rachel Noble insinuated the message had been figured out much quicker than they expected, and joked that they were hoping to recruit the youngster.
“At 8.45 in the morning we put up our web forum and said, ‘hey, if you think you’ve got the answers, fill in the form’,” Noble said.
“And believe it or not, a boy, 14 years old, in Tasmania was the first person in just over an hour to get all four right — it’s unbelievable.”
In response to a quip from the audience, Noble responded: “I know — can you imagine being his mum.”
Her comment prompted laughs, as did the notion the teen could become the next member of the spy agency.
“So, we’re hoping to meet him soon,” she said, adding under her breath “and recruit him”.
However, Noble also announced there was a fifth level of encryption contained in the coin, meaning there’s one more message left for the teenager to decode.
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The ASD is responsible for signals intelligence, cyber warfare and cyber security.
The agency functions as Australia’s chief codebreaking unit, and seeks to intercept messages sent by adversaries and decrypt them.
The ASD plays a powerful role within the Five Eyes intelligence network.
