Author Topic: Zodiac Killer 340 Cipher Cracked?  (Read 1864 times)

TechMan

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Zodiac Killer 340 Cipher Cracked?
« on: July 22, 2011, 01:40:33 PM »
Pretty cool, if it is true.

http://tewksbury.patch.com/articles/tewksbury-native-ive-cracked-the-code-of-the-zodiac-killer#c

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According to Robert Graysmith, in “Zodiac,” tips received by police after Darlene Ferrin’s murder indicated that the killing was connected to the U.S Virgin Islands. Starliper believed that the “340” of the 340 cipher was significant, and had some tie-in with the U.S. Virgin Islands. It was then that he found out that 340 is the area code for a portion of the U.S Virgin Islands — not an insignificant connection.

“So that’s what I started with,” said Starliper. “I thought, there’s no way ... that Zodiac is going to be prosaic enough not to mention the U.S. Virgin Islands in this code. This is where it gets even creepier. 3+4+0=7. Right. So you get 7+0=7. 707...707 are the area codes for Vallejo, Napa, and Solano. So I figured, why not start this with Caesar code using 3,4.”

Caesar code is a substitution type cipher where an encoder has “simply replaced each letter in a message with the letter that is three places further down the alphabet,” according to http://www.simonsingh.net/The_Black_Chamber/caesar.html.
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Brad Johnson

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Re: Zodiac Killer 340 Cipher Cracked?
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2011, 01:46:01 PM »
If it's the real deal it's a pretty impressive leap of logic and intuition.  Maybe the press exposure will get the guy access to more stuff so his theory can be checked against more messages.

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Balog

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Re: Zodiac Killer 340 Cipher Cracked?
« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2011, 01:56:21 PM »
Read the comments. Appears the kid got obsessed and made up a non consistent solution akin to Biblical numerology.
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TechMan

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Re: Zodiac Killer 340 Cipher Cracked?
« Reply #3 on: July 22, 2011, 02:08:57 PM »
Somebody also noted that the code was 340 characters and the "code breaker" {note the quotes} came up with a message that contains 350.
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Hawkmoon - Never underestimate another person's capacity for stupidity. Any time you think someone can't possibly be that dumb ... they'll prove you wrong.

Bacon and Eggs - A day's work for a chicken; A lifetime commitment for a pig.
Stupidity will always be its own reward.
Bad decisions make good stories.

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Viking - The problem with the modern world is that there aren't really any predators eating stupid people.

230RN

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Re: Zodiac Killer 340 Cipher Cracked?
« Reply #4 on: July 22, 2011, 08:43:04 PM »
....
« Last Edit: July 22, 2011, 08:50:39 PM by 230RN »
WHATEVER YOUR DEFINITION OF "INFRINGE " IS, YOU SHOULDN'T BE DOING IT.

birdman

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Re: Zodiac Killer 340 Cipher Cracked?
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2011, 09:44:32 PM »
What a tool...I call BS.   So he changed the key for each line, until he got a message that made sense to him?  No wonder a real cryptographer told him it wasn't valid.