The Solution of the Zodiac Killer's 340-Character Cipher

[douglas9]

In 2020, Melbourne, Australia, had a 112-day lockdown of the entire city to help stop the spread of COVID-19. The wearing of masks was mandatory and we were limited to one hour a day of outside activity. Otherwise, we were stuck in our homes. This gave me lots of time to look into interesting problems I’d been putting off for years.

I was inspired by a YouTube video by David Oranchak, which looked at the Zodiac Killer’s 340-character cipher (Z340), which is pictured below. This cipher is considered one of the holy grails of cryptography, as at the time the cipher had resisted attacks for 50 years, so any attempts to find a solution were truly a moonshot.


https://blog.wolfram.com/2021/03/24/the-solution-of-the-zodiac-killers-340-character-cipher/

[Harker]

1. I was on the wrong track.

I was going to approach it with a "crosshairs" overlay.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

2. But they don't say what message they finally found... nt

[douglas9]

3. Zodiac Killer Code Cracked After 51 Years

snip>

This second cipher came to be known as the “340 Cipher,” and was sent in a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle in November of 1969.

“I HOPE YOU ARE HAVING LOTS OF FUN IN TRYING TO CATCH ME,” reads the message, according to David Oranchak, a member of the team which deciphered the cryptogram. “THAT WASNT ME ON THE TV SHOW WHICH BRINGS UP A POINT ABOUT ME, I AM NOT AFRAID OF THE GAS CHAMBER, BECAUSE IT WILL SEND ME TO PARADICE ALL THE SOONER, BECAUSE I NOW HAVE ENOUGH SLAVES TO WORK FOR ME, WHERE EVERYONE ELSE HAS NOTHING WHEN THEY REACH PARADICE, SO THEY ARE AFRAID OF DEATH. I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I KNOW THAT MY NEW LIFE IS LIFE WILL BE AN EASY ONE IN PARADICE DEATH.”


https://www.denofgeek.com/culture/zodiac-killer-code-cracked-after-51-years/

[Javaman]

4. does ted cruz confirm this? LOL nt

[douglas9]

5. Memory Lane

“Ted Cruz is the Zodiac Killer” is the greatest political meme of the 2016 election cycle — perhaps of all time. Throughout 2016 the internet was abuzz with tongue-in-cheek speculation that Cruz was the notorious serial killer who terrorized Northern California in the 1960s and 70s. But where did this meme come from and why did it become so popular?

The internet was making connections between Cruz and the Zodiac Killer long before 2016. The first known social media post about Cruz possibly being the Zodiac killer dates back to 2013, when Cruz spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference and vowed to repeal the Affordable Care Act.


https://texassignal.com/the-history-of-the-ted-cruz-zodiac-killer-meme/