stefanhabel / asd-coin-2022

Solutions decoding cryptographic code of the Australian Signals Directorate's 75th anniversary coin

ASD-Coin-2022

Solutions decoding cryptographic code of the Australian Signals Directorate's 75th anniversary coin.

❕ This repository contains SPOILERS

Background

On 1 September 2022, the Royal Australian Mint released a limited edition 50 cent commemorative coin to celebrate the Australian Signals Directorate's (ASD) 75th anniversary. [...]

In tribute to the importance of code breaking and evolution of signals intelligence, mulitple [sic] layers of cryptographic code have been included in the design of the coin. ASD cryptographic experts collaborated with the Royal Australian Mint to design the coins unique and enigmatic code. A hidden message will be revealed once each layer of code has been cracked. All that is needed is a pen, paper, Wikipedia and brainpower. [...]

Source: https://www.asd.gov.au/75th-anniversary/events/2022-09-01-75th-anniversary-commemorative-coin

Acknowledgements

The approaches of decoding the coin's cryptographic codes in Python scripts in this repository are based on findings James Newburrie (@DifficultNerd) shared in a Twitter thread the same day the coin was released:

Solved the ASD coin.

Do you want spoilers?

Source: https://twitter.com/DifficultNerd/status/1565587468703137792

The HTML text used as ciphertext in this repository was copied from the Accessible text version section of the webpage describing the coin on the ASD website, which looked similar to the following:

Side A outer ring
.DVZIVZFWZXRLFHRMXLMXVKGZMWNVGRXFOLFHRMVCVXFGRLM.URMWXOZIRGBRM7DRWGSC5WVKGS

Side A inner ring
BGOAMVOEIATSIRLNGTTNEOGRERGXNTEAIFCECAIEOALEKFNR5LWEFCHDEEAEEE7NMDRXX5

Source: https://www.asd.gov.au/75th-anniversary/events/2022-09-01-75th-anniversary-commemorative-coin