School children challenged to crack the code

Students across the UK are being challenged to crack the code again in the 15th annual National Cipher Challenge run by the University of Southampton.

 

Teams of secondary and college pupils will battle each other in a series of online code-breaking contests in a bid to be the first to crack the code.

This year’s challenge sees the teams trying to unravel the mysterious death of Jamelia, a young scientist working in gravitational waves – one of the hottest topics in mathematical physics. The police are certain it was suicide but the security services are not so sure, and teams are set the task of finding out what really happened by cracking a series of encrypted messages which tell her story.

Organised by Mathematical Sciences at the University of Southampton, the Challenge is sponsored by a number of partners including GCHQ, IBM, Trinity College Cambridge and the British Computer Society (BCS). With its unique blend of story-telling and technical challenges, it has hooked thousands of young people across the UK in the 14 years that it has been running.

Organiser Graham Niblo, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Southampton, said: “The contest is designed to give the competitors a taste of what it might be like to be involved in codebreaking as a career, but more importantly to engage their imagination in problem solving.

“Mathematics can sometimes be described as dry and technical but the National Cipher Challenge shows how you can use mathematics and explore it in a more imaginative way. We hope it will encourage young people to take up careers in mathematics and IT.”

Long-term competitor Julian Bhardwaj says the challenge helped set him on the road to his future career.

He said: “If I were to name one thing that has undoubtedly influenced my academic drive, interests and overall career to date, it would be the National Cipher Challenge. Since being introduced to cryptography and the challenge in Year 8, it has been my one passion and driving force in pursuing further education in maths.”

Julian went on to study Mathematics at university and was a Grand Finalist of the UK National Cyber Security Championship in 2013, following in the footsteps of the 2008 National Cipher Challenge winner Jonathan Millican, who was crowned winner of the UK National Cyber Security Championship the previous year.

While many competitors fit the image of the lone wolf hacker, many others do not and the Cipher Challenge encourages entrants to take part teams in teams, who spur and support one another as the challenges rise in difficulty throughout the competition.

Peter Symonds College Mathematics teacher Claire West said: “As a teacher, I see the students form themselves into successful teams; with self-elected leaders who are responsible for organising their group after identifying their members’ individual strengths. In our college, the challenges are worked on entirely by the groups alone as they use our library to work past the usual college close time. I am so proud of them.”

Prizes this year reflect this teamwork as well as individual achievements and include:

• a £1,000 GCHQ prize for the top individual entry

• a £1,000 IBM prize for the best team entry

• an £800 Trinity College prize for the runner-up in the individual category

• an £800 University of Southampton prize for the runner-up in the team category

The prize-winners will be presented with their awards at a special ceremony next Spring.

To find out more about the challenge visit www.cipherchallenge.org