# I'm thinking about retasking my server...



## FordGT90Concept (Oct 4, 2009)

...to break the 340 Zodiac cipher.  I'm surprised WCG hasn't got a project up for this yet.

A little background:  The "Zodiac killer" stalked the San Francisco area in the late 1960s to mid-1970s.  He is credited with five murders and he claims to have killed 37.  He was never caught.  He used cryptic messages to hide some of his messages.  One, the 408 was broken the day it was released.  The other, 340, has not been broken to this day.  Because of the nature of the cipher, the only sure fire way to eventually break it is to try every single possible key and see if it the result makes some sense in English.

I have already assigned every symbol (63) to a representative number so all that's left is to assign those symbols to every possible letter.  Once a potential key is created, run it through a word search algorithm and see if there is any hits against a dictionary.  I decided that only 4 or more letters would constitute a word and at least 10 words must be found before the key is set aside as having some potential.  Someone must look over those potential keys and see if, perhaps, that key is correct.

Once the correct key is found, the 340 supposedly contains the killer's name.  Once the police have a name, it should be possible to close the case using DNA evidence.


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## Solaris17 (Oct 4, 2009)

do it doesnt matter if he is dead or not to this day it would bring 37 families at ease. if its any consolation awards would probably be given.


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## Mindweaver (Oct 6, 2009)

Very interesting ford, I say do it!  I'm sure the families would be grateful.


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## [Ion] (Oct 6, 2009)

I still think that the projects that WCG is running are more meaningful as they will benefit more of humanity.


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## r9 (Oct 6, 2009)

Watch out.It is possible that at this very moment some where out there is some body thinking being the follower of the Zodiac is great idea and want to kill you all for making this evil conspiracy of deciphering the messages .


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