$50,000 from DARPA if you can solve five puzzles

If you’re planning to win the DARPA (US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Shredder Challenge, you’d best register by Nov. 28, 2011, 5 pm ET. In other words, there’s about 40 mins. left. From the DARPA Shredder Challenge page,

Today’s troops often confiscate the remnants of destroyed documents in war zones, but reconstructing them is a daunting task. DARPA’s Shredder Challenge calls upon computer scientists, puzzle enthusiasts and anyone else who likes solving complex problems to compete for up to $50,000 by piecing together a series of shredded documents.

The goal is to identify and assess potential capabilities that could be used by our warfighters operating in war zones, but might also create vulnerabilities to sensitive information that is protected through our own shredding practices throughout the U.S. national security community.

Do you have the skills to reconstruct shredded documents and solve the puzzle?


The Shredder Challenge is comprised of five separate puzzles in which the number of documents, the document subject matter and the method of shredding will be varied to present challenges of increasing difficulty. To complete each problem, participants must provide the answer to a puzzle embedded in the content of the reconstructed document.

The overall prizewinner and prize awarded will depend on the number and difficulty of the problems solved. DARPA will release the challenge problems on October 27, 2011 at 12:00 PM Eastern and announce a winner the week of December 5, 2011 once final results are calculated.

Teams have solved up to four puzzles; it’s the answer to the last puzzle which is proving elusive. There’s not much time left to register but there is still time to solve the puzzles.

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  1. Pingback: DARPA’s Shredder challenge solved « FrogHeart

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