14-year-old boy decrypts ASD coin in ‘just over an hour’ as the cybersecurity agency try to hire him

A teenager has cracked four levels of an encrypted coin in just over an hour, a feat so impressive a top Australian cybersecurity agency is now looking to hire him. 

The 14-year old boy decrypted multiple layers of code imprinted on a commemorative 50-cent coin released by Australia’s foreign intelligence cybersecurity agency on Thursday.

Australian Signals Directorate director-general Rachel Noble said in a speech at the Lowy Institute on Friday that she was hoping to meet and possibly recruit the boy ‘soon’, according to the ABC.

The limited-edition coin was unveiled as part of the 75th anniversary of the ASD.

Only 50,000 coins were minted for collection with the ASD saying the coin’s four different layers of encryption increased in difficulty at each level, with clues on how to crack the code on each side of the coin.

‘There’s a challenge out there to see who can correctly break all the layers, and, would you believe it, yesterday the coin was launched at 8:45am; we put up our web form and said, ‘Hey, if you think you’ve got the answers, fill in the form’,’ she 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 layers right. 

‘Just unbelievable. Can you imagine being his mum? So we’re hoping to meet him soon … to recruit him.’

ASD director-general Rachel Noble said in a speech at the Lowy Institute on Friday the 14-year-old boy managed the feat in just over an hour

On unveiling the coin on Thursday Ms Noble said the coin celebrated the agency’s work and the evolution of code-breaking.

She also said anyone who cracked the code was ‘pretty well placed’ to get a job at the ASD. 

After the 14-year-old managed to solve the coin’s four layers of code she revealed there was a fifth layer of encryption that no one had managed to decrypt yet.