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The Zodiac Killer's 340-character cipher has been cracked after 51 years!
- Thread starter WhySoDevious
- Start date
That site is associated with the guy who made the video in the OP which is suspect but I mean... if you watch the video this isn't like other amateur answers where they forced a dubious solution. The methodology is pretty straightforward and seemingly sound (but I am not an expert)Everything I see seems to point back to the site below (it's at the end), which is kind of dying atm so might take a few tries. But they don't provide a source either so...
BREAKING NEWS: The Zodiac’s “340 Cipher” has been solved |
zodiackillerfacts.com
Well he is probably dead or in jail
but then again, people said that about EAR/ONS too — the big problem with serial killer research is that it is all based on people who got caught
This feels super amateur to me
A real cryptography expert would have started with a clear explanation of the cipher using terms of the art and they would have published something that can be peer reviewed.
This isn't it.
I'm not saying it's impossible for an amateur to succeed where experts failed, it happened before, I just don't think it's super likely here. But in any case, I will wait for verification. If there is any merit for this it will get picked by mainstream media, and verifying a cipher solution is pretty straight forward (though they will have to publish more details about their process I think).
Very impressive work !
you speak with the assumuption Zodiac didnt want people to crack the code.
you speak with the assumuption Zodiac didnt want people to crack the code.
Yes, I am talking about ciphers in general, not the zodiac one in particular.
Have you watched the 5 videos ? They are pretty clear in their explaination
edit : https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/a...-cracked-by-code-expert-51-years-15794943.php
yup. not to mention paint, childrens toys, shit was everywhere.
I have watched it, they rely on tools and methodology that are not fully explained in the video.
The video doesn't have enough info to replicate what they're doing.
Also note how the SF chronicle couldn't get the FBI to confirm that solution like the website claim they did, which is another bad sign if you ask me.
This is only a confirmation that they got the solution submitted.
seems like your idea is made for some reason, it litteraly says "it was solved" in the quote from the FBI, but you do you my man :) have a nice day
The fudging of the lines and the exclusion of "lifeis" from their diagonal method seems totally arbitrary and not like a real solution.
You are right, it is made for a reason - I have some background in cryptography and this is not how experts talk and not how they would have presented their solution.
I'm not saying that means they're wrong, laymen stumbled on stuff that experts missed before, just that they have not provided nearly enough information for anyone to be able to really verify their claim, and I think it's not bad to keep some healthy skepticism about this, at least until we have some more serious confirmation (and I don't think the FBI statement is that). These are not the first people who have claimed to have solved this.
Maybe there is more in their website but it's currently down. I'm sure every cryptography expert in the world will have a go at this pretty damn soon though, so we will know one way or another.
The fact that he came up with such an effective cipher yet on the other hand is clearly a jibbering paranoid schizophrenic is an interesting paradigm.
Yeah that part is weird in that they just picked where to put 'life is', even though the sentences they had constructed made better sense without it inserted where they put it.
Same with the 'death' at the end. Though assuming he made tweaks like having a part or two that doesn't follow the rules of the rest, the user interpretations of the correct placement of 'life is death' seems like it works a lot better.
Notes to make for anyone looking to make an encrypted language for themselves - have spelling mistakes and mix in parts following alternative rules that the rest doesn't follow. Seems like those were the key parts that helped stump people for so long. That and not having computer analysis ability to just try and brute force it.
Seems like it should be Life is Death at the end
I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING LOTS OF FUN IN TRYING TO CATCH ME
THAT WASNT ME ON THE TV SHOW
WHICH BRINGS UP A POINT ABOUT ME
I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE GAS CHAMBER
BECAUSE IT WILL SEND ME TO PARADICE ALL THE SOONER
BECAUSE I NOW HAVE ENOUGH SLAVES TO WORK FOR ME
WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAS NOTHING WHEN THEY REACH PARADICE
SO THEY ARE AFRAID OF DEATH
I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY NEW
LIFE WILL BE AN EASY ONE IN PARADICE
LIFE IS DEATH
There's probably a hidden message inside the decrypted file though.
Oh yeah I have no reason to doubt their claim and I suspect the FBI may have made a statement. I was just pointing out there's a lack of source so it's possible that it's not accurate.
There was only one note before this that was deciphered. And just because you figure out one cypher doesn't mean another one works the same way.
It's a Christmas movie after all
This is really cool, though too bad it's more of this guys usual bullshit rambling.
Even if this isn't a real solution, if it's a feasible solution then I could see the FBI giving it their blessing anyway. If the killer is still alive it might make him crawl out of the rock he slithered into and try and communicate with the press again.
He was the likely suspect but all the evidence against him was circumstantial and didn't hold up.
Movie was based on Greysmith's book which was his conclusion. I won't get into it, but most active online groups that discuss the case generally don't think it was Allen, mainly due to perceived inaccuracies in Greysmith's book / lack of physical evidence like hand writing and not matching dna on back of stamps.
IMO I think it very well could have been Allen but just as likely he liked people thinking he was the killer. He either straight up told a friend he was the killer or that same friend went to the police and tried to pin it on him.
OP
OP
It's showing up in the news now
www.sfchronicle.com
Zodiac ‘340 Cipher’ cracked by code experts 51 years after it was sent to the S.F. Chronicle
The decoded text from the Zodiac Killer reads: “I hope you are having lots of fun in...
There are two more. They are very short so they are unlikely to ever get solved. One of them is part of a letter that ends with "My name is " (code).
And the other is a short sentence supposedly describing where he placed a bomb.
Cyphers are hard to decrypt in general, because there are basically an infinite number of ways to encrypt things. There are lots of basic encryptions that can be solved in minutes/hours. But that is not the case in general.