

Is there another GCHQ challenge? - jgrahamc
http://blog.jgc.org/2011/12/is-there-another-gchq-code-challenge.html

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arctangent
Potentially off-topic, but am I the only one who finds it absurd that GCHQ are
offering a miserly £25k salary for people who manage to work their way through
this puzzle and arrive at the job description?

This would seem to imply that the people at the sharp end of my country's
cyber defence are fairly junior (because it's trivially easy to earn more than
£25k in the UK if you have even moderate skills).

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jmedwards
For someone joining the GCHQ grad scheme it isn't all about money. They'll
hand-hold you through decent security clearance, you'll get to learn the ropes
and a good grounding in national security.

I believe these things are more difficult for graduates wanting to start in a
private company for or in the same field.

~~~
objclxt
A lot of the graduate roles are part of what in the UK is called the 'fast
track' civil service scheme. Graduates start on a standard level salary
(£25k), but progress much faster than people not on the fast-track scheme.

~~~
jmedwards
Yep, that too. I didn't mention the fast-track as I wasn't sure if it was
still open.

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jasondavies
The other possible clue is that they seem to have added "The challenge
continues" to the home page sometime in the last few days e.g. see
[http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/dec/01/gchq-computer-
ha...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/dec/01/gchq-computer-hackers-ad)
for how it looked on or before 1st Dec.

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jmedwards
I note that they'd added "The challenge continues" to the
<http://canyoucrackit.co.uk/> website. I'm sure that wasn't there before...

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DanielRibeiro
For those wondering: the complete and detailed solution can be found on
[http://www.craig-wood.com/nick/articles/how-i-solved-the-
gch...](http://www.craig-wood.com/nick/articles/how-i-solved-the-gchq-
challenge/)

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jmedwards
[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/06/hidden_gchq_code_bre...](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/06/hidden_gchq_code_breaking_challenge/)

