UK intelligence agencies GCHQ launched a hacking code contest to attract new talent

The organization invited potential employees to solve a visual problem (the code is posted on the website)

The task was also published in social networks, blogs and forums.

As stated by the campaign spokesman, this test aims to increase the value of GCHQ among the target audience, which would have been difficult to do otherwise.
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“The target audience for this particular campaign are those that cannot be attracted by traditional advertising methods and may not know that GCHQ is recruiting employees for this job,” the agency’s source said.

“Their skills may be ideal for our work, and yet they cannot understand how they could apply them to the working environment, especially where they have the opportunity to make their invaluable contribution.”

The competition began in secret on November 3 and will run until December 12.



GCHQ said that as soon as the code is cracked, a person will be presented with a keyword to enter into the form field. Then they will be redirected to the recruitment page of the agency website.

The organization said it did not worry that the answer to the task could be distributed throughout the Internet.

They said that they would still benefit, because as a result of the discussion they would “generate new recruitment questions.”

However, GCHQ added that anyone who had previously illegally engaged in hacking may not be suitable. The agency’s website also states that members must be British citizens.

Problems
This step was taken two months ago when Prime Minister David Cameron presented his government response at an intelligence meeting and the Committee’s annual security report.

The committee’s document noted concerns about the “inability to maintain appropriate staff of Internet specialists” of GCHQ and response to cyber threats.

He said that the cabinet supported initiatives such as the threat to computer security, which contributes to growth in cyber security through annual competitions and events.

Anyone who decrypts the code will be asked to apply for a job.
Following this, the government announced last week that it will be created by department specialists at GCHQ.

The combined Cyber ​​group will focus on addressing the growing threat of cyber attacks from organized criminals, terrorists and hostile hacktivist states.

GCHQ claimed that it was the first case of this kind of task ever performed by an organization whose goal is to identify similar skills.

However, the agency has already used unusual recruitment methods in the past.

In 2009, they posted video content, themes and downloadable photos on the Xbox Live network, which appeared during the game Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed and other video games.

Two years earlier, she chose gamers to target digital posters on the Internet including Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas and Splinter Cell Double Agent.

Try to decrypt the code
A source