2023-12-22 09:01:23
In the cloverleaf of British secret services, the technical interception and encryption service GCHQ is less well-known than the domestic secret service MI5 or even the foreign secret service MI6, whose literary embellishments include agents such as George Smiley and James Bond. The “Government Communications Headquarters”, as the abbreviation is written out, not only employs most of the employees of the three intelligence services (more than 7,000 – the foreign service MI6 is only half as large, according to public sources). He also has significant historical achievements himself.
Nevertheless, this is the third time this year that the data intelligence service has sent out a kind of public hello: a special Christmas card of its own, to allied services at home and abroad, to schoolchildren in more than 1,000 schools in the United Kingdom and, in fact, to anyone who sees them Download from the GCHQ website and would like to solve the Christmas puzzles printed there.
Crucial role in World War II
The greatest decryption feat was undoubtedly achieved by the British interception and encryption service during the Second World War by decrypting the German military code machine Enigma after codes and copies of the machine, which resembled a misshapen typewriter, fell into British hands. GCHQ’s intelligence gathering headquarters at the time was based in a mansion called Bletchley Park, north of London.
The mathematician Alan Turing was one of the key scientists who pushed forward the decryption of Enigma. After the World War he was persecuted and harassed in England because of his homosexuality; he took his own life in 1954. For around two years he has been honored with his portrait on the current 50 pound note.
The GCHQ Christmas card features a black and white photo of the snowy Bletchley Park mansion on the outside and seven different puzzles on the back. For example, a common term should be found from nine words, and four times also indicate a specific word with four letters. It’s about deciphering letter sequences and pattern number combinations.
“There is a job for everyone”
The schools to which the puzzle was sent take part in a Christmas competition in which groups of students try to solve the tasks in the shortest possible time.
GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler said the Christmas puzzles were designed by her staff and designed to require a range of skills to crack. “Whether you are an analyst, mechanic or creative, there is a task for everyone.” The Christmas puzzle is a nice task that classmates or friends can solve together. Deciphering has always been at the center of her service’s work, and encryption and decryption are now part of the current mission to ensure the country’s security.
Harald Pauli Published/Updated: Recommendations: 8 Niklas Zimmermann Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 49 Markus Wehner, Berlin Published/Updated: Recommendations: 9
The service’s chief puzzle developer, who for reasons of secrecy – and possibly to appeal to a young audience – only appears on the GCHQ website as a cartoon character with the first name “Colin”, also states that there are “different minds” when it comes to solving the Christmas tasks ” need. The same applies to the work of the intelligence service. The service wants to “show young people that it is a gift to think differently.”
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