Four years after solving the infamous Zodiac Killer code, the three cryptographers who broke the code have detailed their efforts in a whitepaper that explains everything they tried and failed, the software they wrote to help them decipher the encrypted messages. and their theories about how the original encryption was created.
The Zodiac Killer cipher, called Z340, first appeared in San Francisco newspapers on November 12, 1969, and remained unsolved for 51 years.
David Oranchak, Sam Blake and Jarl Van Eycke finally solved the Z340 code and explained it in a 2020 YouTube video. The FBI later confirmed that the solution posted on YouTube was the correct one.
Oranchak has since talked extensively about the solution on his YouTube page. A 29-page paper published by the trio last week is, however, the most definitive account of how the resolution was made and all the difficulties they faced.
Because it deals with a cryptography that has remained unsolved for 51 years, the whitepaper is quite technical and worth reading especially if you are interested in cryptography.
