What do you give a spy agency for Christmas? How about a puzzle wrapped in a puzzle within a puzzle.
Britain’s cyber and cyber intelligence agency GCHQ on Wednesday published its annual Christmas Challenge – a seasonal greeting card that doubles as a set of extremely challenging puzzles designed to excite young minds about solving codes and spotting clues.
The challenge is aimed at young people aged between 11 and 18, who are encouraged to work in teams and use ‘lateral thinking, ingenuity and perseverance’ to solve seven puzzles set by GCHQ’s ‘Inner Puzzles’.
The card is sent by the head of GCHQ — short for Government Communications Headquarters — to other national security chiefs around the world. Puzzles were first included in 2015 and have become an annual tradition. The card can be downloaded from the GCHQ website and has become popular with teachers, with the agency saying a third of British secondary schools have downloaded it.
The agency admits the festive fun has an ulterior motive.
GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler said she hoped the card would inspire young people to explore STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – “and think about what a career in cybersecurity and intelligence can offer”.
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The film also aims to dispel some of the myths about intelligence work, which are fueled by super agent James Bond and other fictional spies.
Colin, GCHQ’s ‘chief puzzler’, said the challenge was best solved through teamwork, in contrast to the popular image of the lone genius or lone secret agent.
“Don’t get me wrong, we have geniuses in the department,” said Colin, who gave only his first name because of the confidential nature of his work. “But what we have crucially is a large number of people with different skills coming together.
“The skills we want are quite diverse. We like analytical skills but also lateral thinking skills. And we like the idea that some of these puzzles require a certain amount of perseverance to get to the answer.”
The card features a map of the United Kingdom, linked to the locations where GCHQ bases are located, including its high-tech headquarters in Cheltenham, west England, nicknamed the Donut because of its shape.
Many Britons are keen on solving puzzles, and the link between puzzle games and spy skills is often celebrated – particularly in the many books, films and TV shows about Bletchley Park, a complex of wooden buildings and cottages northwest of London, which was used during World War II. , hundreds of mathematicians, cryptographers, crossword puzzle experts, and computer pioneers worked to decipher Nazi Germany’s secret codes.
Historians say their work shortened World War II by as much as two years.
Among GCHQ’s new recruits, “we are now hearing more and more that they first heard about GCHQ through bewilderment,” Cullen said.
“It definitely inspires people.”
Technology has advanced immeasurably since the days of Bletchley Park, but it’s reassuring that puzzle making and solving is one area that still needs the human touch.
“AI doesn’t have a good track record either at solving puzzles or solving puzzles, not that kind,” Colin said. “People are still able to solve interesting puzzles in a way that artificial intelligence cannot – thank God.”
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
