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GVSU Prof Cracks Code In NSA Tweet; Find Out What It Said

Posted at 10:04 AM, May 06, 2014
and last updated 2014-05-06 10:04:15-04

ALLENDALE, Mich. (May 6, 2014) — On May 5, the National Security Agency’s twitter account @NSACareers sent out this message:

05-06-14 NSA tweet in code

Later that day, Szymon Machajewski, an affiliate instructor in Grand Valley’s School of Computing and Information Systems, explained how to solve the code in this YouTube video:

The first thing Machajewski noticed in the message was that the message was grouped into 12-character blocks. “We’re going to be dealing with a substitution cypher,” he says in the video. In the video, he explains where to get the online tools to help solve the code.

If you’re into puzzles, the video is worth watching.

And what did the NSA coded message say?

“wanttoknowwh atittakestow orkatnsa?chec kbackeachmon dayinmayaswe explorecaree rsessentialt oprotectingo urnation.”

Remember, the twitter account is @NSACareers.