Thursday, November 10, 2011

Zodiac Killer

The Zodiac Killer code was never truly broken.  I mean parts of it were but some parts still remain unciphered and their meaning is still hidden.  I wonder if he was the only one to know how to read the cipher?  I am also curious if the parts of the code that remain unchiphered actually make sense or if they are just gibberish.  I find this particular topic fascinating and chilling simultaneously.

Atbash Cipher and Baphomet

Baphomet was supposedly a pagan deity worshipped by the Knights Templar.  However, Dr. Schonfield an expert on the Atbash Cipher thought the name Baphomet had a hidden meaning.  He decided to decipher the name using the Atbash Cipher and found that when this was done the name became Sophia.  Which means either wisdom or a goddess.  Therefore, according to Schonfield's theory the Knights Templar were not worshipping a pagan deity but either Mary Magdalan (goddess) or had an extremely high respect for wisdom, meaning they were wrongly convicted for heresy.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Education for a Cryptologist

Undergrad Degree in: Mathematics and Computer Science
Post Grad: Research Degree
Linguistics: Knowledgeable in more than one language preferably more
Drive: Well informed/Different Perspective/Creative
Research & Development:  Need to be able to see different codes and come up with more difficult and challenging ones for protection

These are just some of the things that are required to become a cryptologist.  Also there is probably some element of talent that is necessary to be especially successful in this field.  Sounds difficult and not fun to me.

Atbash Cipher

The Atbash cipher is a simple substitution cipher.  It replaces the first letter "a" with the last "z" and the second letter "b" with the second to last letter "y" and so on.  It was used in ancient times and was traditionally known as a Holy Code based on Hebrew.
It is rumored to have been used by the Knights Templar to name their deity.