44CON2022

The purpose of this workshop is to give a hands-on introduction to forensic codebreaking – something that is usually not taught in public lessons. The lecturer will introduce the most important pencil-and-paper solving techniques along with links to free codebreaking software.

In the main part of the workshop, the attendees will have the chance to break authentic crime-related ciphertexts themselves. For this purpose, the lecturer will choose the most suitable messages from his large collection. Different difficulty levels, based on the participants’ skills, will be provided. Whenever necessary, the lecturer will assist and give hints. At the end of the session, detailed solution descriptions will be provided.

For this workshop, a laptop is helpful, but not required.