{"id":37833,"date":"2018-04-16T15:47:18","date_gmt":"2018-04-16T19:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=37833"},"modified":"2019-08-06T06:34:27","modified_gmt":"2019-08-06T10:34:27","slug":"emu-wins-international-cryptanalysis-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emu-wins-international-cryptanalysis-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"EMU wins international cryptanalysis competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cFurrowed eyebrows\u201d may not technically be a mood, but it\u2019s how Eastern Mennonite University sophomore engineering major Ben Stutzman described the atmosphere when his team was competing in the Kryptos cryptanalysis competition<\/a> in early April.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew some things we could try right away, but there was a lot of pondering,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The thinking paid off, as the team of three \u2013 Stutzman and math and computer science majors first-year Cameron Byer and sophomore\u00a0<\/span>Daniel Harder \u2013 took first place over 60 other teams from three countries on three puzzles. <\/span><\/p>\n

Only four teams solved all three puzzles within the five-day contest window, with EMU\u2019s winning trio submitting correct answers first and in less than 20 hours \u2013 and that\u2019s without pulling an all-nighter. After a 7 p.m. start on Thursday, April 5, they submitted their answer to the first puzzle, and then saved the following two puzzles for the next day.<\/span><\/p>\n

The annual Kryptos contest, hosted since 2011 by the mathematics department at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, was sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Section of the Mathematical Association of America. <\/span><\/p>\n

Teams could use books, the internet and computer programs \u2013 but no living person other than a teammate \u2013 to solve the challenges. Along with their correct answers, they were required to describe how they reached a solution and list any sources used. <\/span><\/p>\n

Discrete math proved most useful, Byer said, but the open-ended nature of the coded messages required lots of \u201ctrying this, trying that\u201d until hitting on breakthroughs.<\/span><\/p>\n

In one problem, they were provided with a series of personal ad clippings, only one of which contained a coherent phrase: \u201cKnowledge is Power.\u201d That, they discovered, was a quote by Francis Bacon, and a clue that finding the solution would involve using Bacon\u2019s cipher. The rest of the ad contents, they noticed, were all five letters long and completely nonsensical \u2013 binary encryption, they realized.<\/span><\/p>\n

In another, an invitation to a Stephen Hawking memorial celebration invited attendees to \u201cbring something to grille,\u201d a subtle suggestion that a \u201cturning grille\u201d would prove useful.<\/span><\/p>\n

And the remaining puzzle required contestants to decipher incoherent text to find a keyword \u201cchicken\u201d for decoding a message. Harder wrote a computer program to sort through thousands of possible keyword solutions to the Vigenere cipher.<\/span><\/p>\n

The contest showed the importance of using creativity to solve problems, Stutzman said \u2013 and, added Byer, teamwork and camaraderie.<\/span><\/p>\n

After repeated attempts at breaking the codes would end in \u201cgibberish,\u201d said Byer, finding a sensical answer was exciting \u2013 for example when their teammate Harder figured out the \u201cKnowledge is Power\u201d message: \u201c\u2018Denver!\u2019 I got \u2018Denver!\u2019 \u2018Ruby Hill!\u2019 \u2018Seven p.m.!\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time an EMU team has taken first place. In 2014, <\/span>EMU teams took both first and third place<\/span><\/a>. That year Byer was on the third-place finishing team \u2013 as a freshman at\u00a0Eastern Mennonite High School.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFurrowed eyebrows\u201d may not technically be a mood, but it\u2019s how Eastern Mennonite University sophomore engineering major Ben Stutzman described the atmosphere when his team was competing in the Kryptos ... read more about EMU wins international cryptanalysis competition<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13808,17562,17364,5598],"tags":[16989,15433],"feature":[17423,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-37833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-computer-science","category-digest","category-engineering","category-mathematical-sciences","tag-daniel-showalter","tag-owen-byer","feature-featured-undergrad","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nEMU wins international cryptanalysis competition - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emu-wins-international-cryptanalysis-competition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EMU wins international cryptanalysis competition - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cFurrowed eyebrows\u201d may not technically be a mood, but it\u2019s how Eastern Mennonite University sophomore engineering major Ben Stutzman described the atmosphere when his team was competing in the Kryptos\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emu-wins-international-cryptanalysis-competition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-16T19:47:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-08-06T10:34:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/04\/20180413-Kryptos-Contest-Winners-005-1000px.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"667\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emu-wins-international-cryptanalysis-competition\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emu-wins-international-cryptanalysis-competition\/\",\"name\":\"EMU wins international cryptanalysis competition - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emu-wins-international-cryptanalysis-competition\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emu-wins-international-cryptanalysis-competition\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/04\/20180413-Kryptos-Contest-Winners-005-1000px.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-16T19:47:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-06T10:34:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d6737034219398924e6bd5dedcfa1245\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emu-wins-international-cryptanalysis-competition\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emu-wins-international-cryptanalysis-competition\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/emu-wins-international-cryptanalysis-competition\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/04\/20180413-Kryptos-Contest-Winners-005-1000px.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/04\/20180413-Kryptos-Contest-Winners-005-1000px.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":667,\"caption\":\"Ben Stutzman and Cameron Byer pose for photos commemorating their winning the Kryptos Contest. Two teams from EMU competed in the international Kryptos cryptoanalysis competition this past weekend and one of them (Cameron Byer, Daniel Harder, Ben Stutzman) won first place! They competed against 60 other teams from 3 countries and used teamwork, math, computer science, and problem-solving skills to unravel all 3 of the coded puzzles. 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