The ACA


The American Cryptogram Association (ACA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the hobby and art of cryptanalysis -- that is, learning to break ciphers.

Join Us!

Now is an ideal time to join the ACA. While supplies last, new members will receive a CD-ROM containing the contents of The Cryptogram from 1932 to 2009. For information on membership benefits and details on how to join see Membership.

    

News

Cryptologia and other archived information.

Taylor and Francis offers free access for registered users to its current and archived material - including Cryptologia - for the month of April. Click here for the URL...

Free Web App.

The ACA's "Solve a Cipher!" program is now available as a free web app for users of Google's Chrome web browser. To get it, click HERE, or go to the Chrome Web Store and search on "ciphers".

New Expanded Free Sample Issue

The free sample issue of The Cryptogram available for download has been expanded with more explanations and many more ciphers to solve. Read about it and download it on the Sample Issue page under About the ACA .

2nd Edition PHOENIX Memorial CDROM

A member reported that the links on the index page of the 2nd Edition PHOENIX Memorial CDROM did not work with Acrobat Reader v9. It turned out to be caused by the default value of a preference option. Here is how it was corrected:

Edit->Preferences

Documents->View Documents in PDF/A mode: NEVER

From the Edit menu, select "Preferences", then choose to look under Category "Documents".

The option "View Documents in PDF/A mode" should be changed to "Never".

FBI Code Breaking Challenge.

The FBI has a website with a code breaking challenge. Check it out.

THE RAT has made available for ACA members a program called Conmaker. It is designed for Windows users to easily create and submit cons to the ACA column editors. If interested, go to the Members Area / Downloads and get your copy.

   

Events

2013 ACA Annual Convention

The 2013 ACA Annual convention will be the weekend of August 23-25, 2013.

It will be held in Colonial Williamsburg / Newport News, Virginia.

2013 SHORRECK LECTURE

The Center for Cryptologic History is pleased to announce the upcoming 2013 Henry F. Schorreck Memorial Lecture. The Schorreck Lecture is a series of historical lectures named in honor of the former NSA Historian. It is presented annually by preeminent scholars who address cryptologic issues with an historical perspective. Previous talks have been delivered by scholars in the field such as David Kahn, Christopher Andrew, John Ferris, and Stephen Budiansky.

The speaker this year will be Dr. Peter W. Donovan of the Department of Mathematics, University of New South Wales, Australia. A renowned expert in several subfields of mathematics, as well as on cryptologic history, Dr. Donovan has conducted some of the most innovative and path-breaking work to date on the Allied effort to break Japanese encipherment systems in use during WWII. He will be presenting two separate lectures detailing the cipher war in the Pacific, including revelations about the weaknesses in the Japanese naval codes that the Allies exploited, all of which led to dramatic successes on the battlefield.

These talks are free and open to the public. They will be held in the Magic Room of the National Cryptologic Museum. There presentation and specific talks are listed below.

--Thursday, May 23 – 1000-1200: “Understanding the Allied Approach to Radio Intelligence in the Pacific Theatre during World War II”

--Friday, May 24 – 0930-1130: “The Thought Behind High-level Cryptological Discovery, 1930-1945”

For more information about this event, please contact the Center at 301-688-2336 or history@nsa.gov.