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Australian Signals Directorate coin code cracked by 14yo in 'just over an hour'

abc.net.au

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Re: Australian Signals Directorate coin code cracked by 14yo in 'just over an hour'

#51

Post by nailer »

shakna wrote: post #38
nailer wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 requires telecommunications companies to retain a particular set of telecommunications data for at least 2 years. That looks like metadata (see https://www.homeaffairs.gov.au/nat-security/files/dataset.pd... , PDF warning). Which is still private, but doesn't include your private calls and messages. How long do they keep private calls and messages?

> How long do they keep private calls and messages? 7-10 years, in practice. 2 years, in requirement. [0] [0] https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Depart...

Hrm that link doesn't seem to be relevant:

> … is not defined in the TIA Act but is generally understood to refer to information about a communication that is not the content or substance of a communication.

I'm asking asking about content.

Re: Australian Signals Directorate coin code cracked by 14yo in 'just over an hour'

#52

Post by nailer »

adventured wrote: post #35
nailer wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're comparing to the US: the US has the Fourth Amendment, and your government ignores that too.

You're pretending it doesn't exist at all, when in fact the Fourth Amendment provides enormous, common protection - which some government agents rarely violate (leading you to claim the "government" ignores it entirely, which is false). The Fouth Amendment is not only still fully valid, it continues to hold up extraordinarily well when it comes to protecting you in a court of law.

> which some government agents rarely violate

We've seen from the Snowden revelations that ignoring the fourth amendment is widespread.

Re: Australian Signals Directorate coin code cracked by 14yo in 'just over an hour'

#53

Post by hilbert42 »

djbusby wrote: post #41
gumby wrote: post #18

> those who crack the codes could discover "some wonderful, uplifting messages". Let’s hope that one of them was, “Australia should be a republic”

Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.

You've been watching too many 1950s/'60s TV ads. Wash your mouth out. ;-)

Re: Australian Signals Directorate coin code cracked by 14yo in 'just over an hour'

#54

Post by TOMDM »

BLKNSLVR wrote: post #46
hilbert42 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Let’s hope that one of them was, “Australia should be a republic”" Not that far from where I live at the intersection of two busy roads there used to be a tall concrete Besser block wall with spray-painted graffiti scrawled on it in large black lettering which read: "The Australian people are bloody-minded sheep." The truly remarkable thing about the graffiti was that in over 20 years no one covered it up or spray-p…

I've actually thought that some of the recent legislation, specifically the metadata retention and anti-encryption, has been the five-eyes using Australia's democratic populace of "bloody-minded sheep" as a testing ground and/or precedent for implementing the same privacy invasive legislation in the other countries that may be less 'compliant' without said precedent.

My thought has been even more pessimistic than that. Why even pass your own legislation when your intelligence agencies can just get Australia to extract that info for you.

You don't need to actually backdoor the targets device, just the platform they use. Who cares about jurisdiction as long as your friends are willing to hand over data in the interest of international security.

Re: Australian Signals Directorate coin code cracked by 14yo in 'just over an hour'

#55

Post by hilbert42 »

q-big wrote: post #25
true_religion wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. It’s just a game for them to popularize code breaking and do some youth recruiting.

> It’s just a game for them to popularize code breaking Do they really want to do that - considering these talented people might use their code breaking skills against the government? ;-)

No doubt it's an excellent strategy to identity where any future/potential opposition may come from.

As Sun Tzu says in The Art of War:

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

Re: Australian Signals Directorate coin code cracked by 14yo in 'just over an hour'

#56

Post by soogwoog »

hilbert42 wrote: post #55
q-big wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s just a game for them to popularize code breaking Do they really want to do that - considering these talented people might use their code breaking skills against the government? ;-)

No doubt it's an excellent strategy to identity where any future/potential opposition may come from. As Sun Tzu says in The Art of War: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

What if you know the enemy, but not yourself?

Re: Australian Signals Directorate coin code cracked by 14yo in 'just over an hour'

#57

Post by jonny_eh »

krisoft wrote: post #10
ncmncm wrote: post #4

They really would like for us not to think its being solved by a 14 y.o. the same morning is a debacle. But it is.

Debacle? :) It is a puzzle made to entertain and popularise the institution. People solving it is the goal. Your comment reminds me of this XKCD: https://xkcd.com/932/

It's getting headlines, it's exactly what they wanted. Kudos to the Australians on this one!

Re: Australian Signals Directorate coin code cracked by 14yo in 'just over an hour'

#58

Post by hilbert42 »

Trouble_007 wrote: post #2

ASD - 75th Anniversary Commemorative Coin : https://www.asd.gov.au/75th-anniversary/events/2022-09-01-75... 70th Anniversary of ASIO – Marked with New 50-Cent Coin by Royal Australian Mint : https://www.ramint.gov.au/publications/70th-anniversary-asio...

It's important to always remember that such advertising is actually soft propaganda.

In the early days the Government essentially didn't want the citizenry to know that ASIO and ASD existed but if it did learn of their existence then it was important to keep discussion about them at the bottom of the political agenda.

That's long past and now the citizenry has some basic knowledge about how these agencys operate and that the work they do can at best be described as both 'unsavory' and secretive. That is, even if they're essential, they don't have the best of images.

That's where soft propaganda becomes essential and now steps in, that is it's time to create a 'warm and comfortable' feeling about them in the public's eye.

Coins have always had value, authority and presence not to mention ubiquity, it's why the head of the reigning sovereign is always on them.

To provide these 'questionable' agencies a better image what could be better than to associate them with all that solid authoritative suff?

Right, you've got the picture.

In fact the linguist and politial philosopher Noam Chomsky wrote a book about it called Manufacturing Consent:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent

Re: Australian Signals Directorate coin code cracked by 14yo in 'just over an hour'

#59

Post by hilbert42 »

soogwoog wrote: post #56
hilbert42 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No doubt it's an excellent strategy to identity where any future/potential opposition may come from. As Sun Tzu says in The Art of War: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

What if you know the enemy, but not yourself?

I'll answer that with an examiner's question:

Please provide a T-F truth table to show that the proposition is false.

Clue: you already have the answer and Sun Tzu has provided three-quarters of it

:-)

Re: Australian Signals Directorate coin code cracked by 14yo in 'just over an hour'

#60

Post by techdragon »

hilbert42 wrote: post #48
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've actually thought that some of the recent legislation, specifically the metadata retention and anti-encryption, has been the five-eyes using Australia's democratic populace of "bloody-minded sheep" as a testing ground and/or precedent for implementing the same privacy invasive legislation in the other countries that may be less 'compliant' without said precedent.

Right, one can't but helped to have noticed how remarkably quickly that legislation passed. ...And it did so without a squawk! Edit, it sort of proves my point, doesn't it?

From the standpoint of someone who did not agree with that legislation or the subsequent follow on changes that pulled on even more… and several less internationally noticed little legal things… We squawked, as loudly as we could, but it made no difference, because they went and did it anyway. So it wasn’t even a strangled squawk, but a completely ignored squawk.

It really doesn’t help that we have very few constitutional rights with which to push back with as any sort of “inalienable” baseline.

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