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NSA News & Highlights

NSA SPOTLIGHT

FEATURE

Dec. 5, 2024

Capt. Grace Hopper on Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People (Part Two, 1982)

We're reaching into the vault to bring you a lecture delivered to the NSA workforce in 1982 by then-Navy Captain Grace Hopper entitled, "Future Possibilities: Data, Hardware, Software, and People." Grace Hopper was an American computer scientist and mathematician, and a pioneer of computer programing. Among her accomplishments, Hopper was the first to devise the theory of machine-independent programming languages. She ultimately reached the rank of Rear Admiral in the United States...

U.S. Military Academy honored at White House for winning NSA’s 2024 Cyber Exercise

No Such Puzzle: Reindeer Games

Headline Puzzle: December 2024

Tag: puzzle

Dec. 5, 2024

Headline Puzzle: December 2024

The Headline Puzzle is a monthly feature that was started in 1964 by Paul Derthick, a longtime research analyst in NSA’s Operations Organization, as an interesting way to keep his mind sharp outside of his cryptanalytic work. Each Headline Puzzle contains five headlines from recent daily newspapers. Each of the five is a different monoalphabetic substitution, and all five are derived from the same mixed alphabet at different settings against itself. A complete solution includes recovering the plaintext of each HEADLINE and three key words, the SETTING, the KEY and the HAT.

Headline Puzzle: November 2024 Encrypted Headlines Graphic.
1. IPGMCPM DQDFSDJ LM QWMJCQLJD; YPODYS HDMMDJB ALFSPY; CWQLMNDY JDKDWSDJ
2. DLELUULU AWHRLZSXELC YHEW ZX UVHG EXGZO IL. UZHWAEZU
3. PYLPQDC' OWRDY MWXDJ QDWNRD'C XWMWNDY PK SGD BDWY
4. LMDFL NDQML LIGQUL DL WALI MBXL OAPMX; JGGWJGFIR LIFGBY
5. UMBYXUHKUI, TSIIKHSBB KI HWICWI, KB PHWRI DWLS KI OXUYS, O.W.C.

Nov. 8, 2024

Headline Puzzle 60th Anniversary: November 2024

This month marks the 60th anniversary of Headline Puzzles at NSA! In honor of the puzzle’s Diamond Jubilee, here is a special November Headline Puzzle, based on headlines from November 1964. Each of the five is a different letter-for-letter substitution. All five are derived from the same mixed alphabet at different settings against itself.