The secret message included in the USCYBERCOM logo

     9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a

is what the md5sum function returns when applied to the string that is USCYBERCOM’s official mission statement. Here’s a demonstration of this fact done on a Mac. On linux, use the md5sum command instead of md5.

~> echo -n "USCYBERCOM plans, coordinates, integrates, \
    synchronizes and conducts activities to: direct the \
    operations and defense of specified Department of \
    Defense information networks and; prepare to, and when \
    directed, conduct full spectrum military cyberspace \
    operations in order to enable actions in all domains, \
    ensure US/Allied \ freedom of action in cyberspace and \
    deny the same to our adversaries." | md5
    9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a
    ~>
    

md5sum is a standard Unix command that computes a 128 bit “fingerprint” of a string of any length. It is a well designed hashing function that has the property that its very unlikely that any two non-identical strings in the real world will have the same md5sum value. Such functions have many uses in cryptography.

Thanks to Ian Soboroff for spotting the answer on Slashdot and forwarding it.

Someone familiar with md5 would recognize that the secret string has the same length and character mix as an md5 value — 32 hexadecimal characters. Each of the possible hex characters (0123456789abcdef) represents four bits, so 32 of them is a way to represent 128 bits.

We’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to compute the 128 bit sequence that our secret code corresponds to.

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Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) is the new unit in the US Department of Defense that is responsible for the “defense of specified Department of Defense information networks” and, when needed, to “conduct full-spectrum military cyberspace operations in order to enable actions in all domains, ensure freedom of action in cyberspace for the U.S. and its allies, and deny the same to adversaries.”

Their logo as an encrypted message in its inner gold ring:

          9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a
    

An article in Wired quotes a USCYBERCOM source:

“It is not just random numbers and does ‘decode’ to something specific,” a Cyber Command source tells Danger Room. “I believe it is specifically detailed in the official heraldry for the unit symbol.”

“While there a few different proposals during the design phase, in the end the choice was obvious and something necessary for every military unit,” the source adds. “The mission.”

Here’s your chance to use those skills you learned in CMSC 443. Wired is offering a T-shirt to the first person who can crack the code. With that hint in hand, go crack this code open. E-mail us your best guess, or leave it in the comments below. Our Cyber Command source will confirm the right answer. And the first person to get it gets his/her choice of a Danger Room T-shirt. USCYBERCOM might offer you a job.