David Oranchak was born in 1974, the same year that the Zodiac Killer wrote his final message to the world. 46 years later, David would be a part of a small team of code-breaking enthusiasts who cracked the Zodiac 340 cipher. For decades, the message eluded even the best cryptanalysts from across the intelligence field.
David joined Andrew Hammond in the studio this week to discuss how he, along with mathematician Sam Blake and programmer Jarl Van Eycke, finally put an answer to the puzzle after 51 years. They talk through the methods Dave’s team used to decrypt the 340, how the cipher went unsolved for so long, and how it felt to read the words of a serial killer. Tune in to learn more about one of the most amazing feats of cryptanalysis in our modern age.
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