Where’s John Tiltman when you need him? Tiltman – a British soldier who served during World Wars I and II – found his calling in the much needed field of code breaking. He did more than his fair share helping to win the war but sadly, he is no longer around to help with this puzzle. Not since a gent by the name of Ian Fleming sat down at his typewriter at Goldeneye has something this exciting come along. Since yesterday around 11:00 AM UK time – the can you crack it answer has been sought after by amateur sleuths, hobbyists and hackers around the world (and about 20,183 bored internet users.) To solve it, be prepared to brush up on your machine language books, learn a bit about Linux operating systems and deciphering PNG files.
In an effort to drum up some talent, the British Government has posted a puzzle online to solve – with whomever solving it being offered a job perhaps. Unfortunately, I’m an American and am not allowed to work for the Brits. 
Actually, it was a genius (I’m pretty sure) by the name of Petter Wahlman with a twitter page at http://www.twitter.com/badeip who posted this answer on the pastebin.com site yesterday, December 1st. It seems to have taken him and his legion of hacker/programming buddies about 4.2 hours to come up with the answer to part 1 of the problem (Yes, apparently there are parts.) Answer 1 leads you to problem 2. The answer to problem 2 leads you to problem 3 – and so on… and if you feel like you are jumping hurdles at that point, I imagine that is the best way for the UK to weed out the riff raff and get right to the talent.
The way I got the answer was – I reverse engineered some leftover Apollo 15 parts and, using a Compugraphic typesetting machine from 1968 and a key card reader (any one prior to 1975 should work fine), I compiled the data from the PNG file in to the reader and then fed the answer into a vector graphics machine. Simple right??
My answer to part 2 is
Oh come on – its Christmas time 
Please share this page…it’s a great cause.
Attention Americans and anyone else who is interested – Read This!
The attempts of the UK government to drum up some talent reminds me of an incident this past summer – when the FBI sent out copies of these scans of a cryptic letter asking the publics help in solving a 20 or so year old murder. (I’ve added a bit of my own writing to it – but the original is available below) The last I heard, nobody had been able to solve it (yet that is…perhaps one of you?) If you are not able to be employed by the UK (They are only hiring their own citizens according to what I have gleaned thus far), why not pour your efforts into something a bit more juicy and worthwhile? The official link to the FBIs Help Solve an Unsolved Murder Case page is here. Go at it – they want the help!
Anyway, back to canyourcrackit.co.uk – Once you have the answer, the puzzle will ultimately lead you to this page (SPOILER ALERT)
Regardless, you can see part 1 of a 3 part quiz here http://www.canyoucrackit.co.uk/15b436de1f9107f3778aad525e5d0b20.js or it is copied below.
The following is the answer to part one of the puzzle above found on the Canyoucrackit.co.uk website.
//————————————————————————————————–
//
// stage 2 of 3
//
// challenge:
// reveal the solution within VM.mem
//
// disclaimer:
// tested in ie 9, firefox 6, chrome 14 and v8 shell (http://code.google.com/apis/v8/build.html),
// other javascript implementations may or may not work.
//
//————————————————————————————————–
var VM = {
cpu: {
ip: 0×00,
r0: 0×00,
r1: 0×00,
r2: 0×00,
r3: 0×00,
cs: 0×00,
ds: 0×10,
fl: 0×00,
firmware: [0xd2ab1f05, 0xda13f110]
},
mem: [
0x31, 0x04, 0x33, 0xaa, 0x40, 0x02, 0x80, 0x03, 0x52, 0x00, 0x72, 0x01, 0x73, 0x01, 0xb2, 0x50,
0x30, 0x14, 0xc0, 0x01, 0x80, 0x00, 0x10, 0x10, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
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0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
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0x98, 0xab, 0xd9, 0xa1, 0x9f, 0xa7, 0x83, 0x83, 0xf2, 0xb1, 0x34, 0xb6, 0xe4, 0xb7, 0xca, 0xb8,
0xc9, 0xb8, 0x0e, 0xbd, 0x7d, 0x0f, 0xc0, 0xf1, 0xd9, 0x03, 0xc5, 0x3a, 0xc6, 0xc7, 0xc8, 0xc9,
0xca, 0xcb, 0xcc, 0xcd, 0xce, 0xcf, 0xd0, 0xd1, 0xd2, 0xd3, 0xd4, 0xd5, 0xd6, 0xd7, 0xd8, 0xd9,
0xda, 0xdb, 0xa9, 0xcd, 0xdf, 0xdf, 0xe0, 0xe1, 0xe2, 0xe3, 0xe4, 0xe5, 0xe6, 0xe7, 0xe8, 0xe9,
0x26, 0xeb, 0xec, 0xed, 0xee, 0xef, 0xf0, 0xf1, 0xf2, 0xf3, 0xf4, 0xf5, 0xf6, 0xf7, 0xf8, 0xf9,
0x7d, 0x1f, 0x15, 0x60, 0x4d, 0x4d, 0x52, 0x7d, 0x0e, 0x27, 0x6d, 0x10, 0x6d, 0x5a, 0x06, 0x56,
0x47, 0x14, 0x42, 0x0e, 0xb6, 0xb2, 0xb2, 0xe6, 0xeb, 0xb4, 0x83, 0x8e, 0xd7, 0xe5, 0xd4, 0xd9,
0xc3, 0xf0, 0x80, 0x95, 0xf1, 0x82, 0x82, 0x9a, 0xbd, 0x95, 0xa4, 0x8d, 0x9a, 0x2b, 0x30, 0x69,
0x4a, 0x69, 0x65, 0x55, 0x1c, 0x7b, 0x69, 0x1c, 0x6e, 0x04, 0x74, 0x35, 0x21, 0x26, 0x2f, 0x60,
0x03, 0x4e, 0x37, 0x1e, 0x33, 0x54, 0x39, 0xe6, 0xba, 0xb4, 0xa2, 0xad, 0xa4, 0xc5, 0x95, 0xc8,
0xc1, 0xe4, 0x8a, 0xec, 0xe7, 0x92, 0x8b, 0xe8, 0x81, 0xf0, 0xad, 0x98, 0xa4, 0xd0, 0xc0, 0x8d,
0xac, 0x22, 0x52, 0x65, 0x7e, 0x27, 0x2b, 0x5a, 0x12, 0x61, 0x0a, 0x01, 0x7a, 0x6b, 0x1d, 0x67,
0x75, 0x70, 0x6c, 0x1b, 0x11, 0x25, 0x25, 0x70, 0x7f, 0x7e, 0x67, 0x63, 0x30, 0x3c, 0x6d, 0x6a,
0x01, 0x51, 0x59, 0x5f, 0x56, 0x13, 0x10, 0x43, 0x19, 0x18, 0xe5, 0xe0, 0xbe, 0xbf, 0xbd, 0xe9,
0xf0, 0xf1, 0xf9, 0xfa, 0xab, 0x8f, 0xc1, 0xdf, 0xcf, 0x8d, 0xf8, 0xe7, 0xe2, 0xe9, 0x93, 0x8e,
0xec, 0xf5, 0xc8, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x37, 0x7a, 0x07, 0x11, 0x1f, 0x1d, 0x68, 0x25, 0x32, 0x77, 0x1e, 0x62, 0x23, 0x5b, 0x47, 0x55,
0x53, 0x30, 0x11, 0x42, 0xf6, 0xf1, 0xb1, 0xe6, 0xc3, 0xcc, 0xf8, 0xc5, 0xe4, 0xcc, 0xc0, 0xd3,
0x85, 0xfd, 0x9a, 0xe3, 0xe6, 0x81, 0xb5, 0xbb, 0xd7, 0xcd, 0x87, 0xa3, 0xd3, 0x6b, 0x36, 0x6f,
0x6f, 0x66, 0x55, 0x30, 0x16, 0x45, 0x5e, 0x09, 0x74, 0x5c, 0x3f, 0x29, 0x2b, 0x66, 0x3d, 0x0d,
0x02, 0x30, 0x28, 0x35, 0x15, 0x09, 0x15, 0xdd, 0xec, 0xb8, 0xe2, 0xfb, 0xd8, 0xcb, 0xd8, 0xd1,
0x8b, 0xd5, 0x82, 0xd9, 0x9a, 0xf1, 0x92, 0xab, 0xe8, 0xa6, 0xd6, 0xd0, 0x8c, 0xaa, 0xd2, 0x94,
0xcf, 0x45, 0x46, 0x67, 0x20, 0x7d, 0x44, 0x14, 0x6b, 0x45, 0x6d, 0x54, 0x03, 0x17, 0x60, 0x62,
0x55, 0x5a, 0x4a, 0x66, 0x61, 0x11, 0x57, 0x68, 0x75, 0x05, 0x62, 0x36, 0x7d, 0x02, 0x10, 0x4b,
0x08, 0x22, 0x42, 0x32, 0xba, 0xe2, 0xb9, 0xe2, 0xd6, 0xb9, 0xff, 0xc3, 0xe9, 0x8a, 0x8f, 0xc1,
0x8f, 0xe1, 0xb8, 0xa4, 0x96, 0xf1, 0x8f, 0x81, 0xb1, 0x8d, 0x89, 0xcc, 0xd4, 0x78, 0x76, 0x61,
0x72, 0x3e, 0x37, 0x23, 0x56, 0x73, 0x71, 0x79, 0x63, 0x7c, 0x08, 0x11, 0x20, 0x69, 0x7a, 0x14,
0x68, 0x05, 0x21, 0x1e, 0x32, 0x27, 0x59, 0xb7, 0xcf, 0xab, 0xdd, 0xd5, 0xcc, 0x97, 0x93, 0xf2,
0xe7, 0xc0, 0xeb, 0xff, 0xe9, 0xa3, 0xbf, 0xa1, 0xab, 0x8b, 0xbb, 0x9e, 0x9e, 0x8c, 0xa0, 0xc1,
0x9b, 0x5a, 0x2f, 0x2f, 0x4e, 0x4e, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00
],
exec: function()
{
// virtual machine architecture
// ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
//
// segmented memory model with 16-byte segment size (notation seg:offset)
//
// 4 general-purpose registers (r0-r3)
// 2 segment registers (cs, ds equiv. to r4, r5)
// 1 flags register (fl)
//
// instruction encoding
// ++++++++++++++++++++
//
// byte 1 byte 2 (optional)
// bits [ 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 ] [ 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 ]
// opcode – - -
// mod -
// operand1 – - – -
// operand2 – - – - – - – -
//
// operand1 is always a register index
// operand2 is optional, depending upon the instruction set specified below
// the value of mod alters the meaning of any operand2
// 0: operand2 = reg ix
// 1: operand2 = fixed immediate value or target segment (depending on instruction)
//
// instruction set
// +++++++++++++++
//
// Notes:
// * r1, r2 => operand 1 is register 1, operand 2 is register 2
// * movr r1, r2 => move contents of register r2 into register r1
//
// opcode | instruction | operands (mod 0) | operands (mod 1)
// ——-+————-+——————+—————–
// 0×00 | jmp | r1 | r2:r1
// 0×01 | movr | r1, r2 | rx, imm
// 0×02 | movm | r1, [ds:r2] | [ds:r1], r2
// 0×03 | add | r1, r2 | r1, imm
// 0×04 | xor | r1, r2 | r1, imm
// 0×05 | cmp | r1, r2 | r1, imm
// 0×06 | jmpe | r1 | r2:r1
// 0×07 | hlt | N/A | N/A
//
// flags
// +++++
//
// cmp r1, r2 instruction results in:
// r1 == r2 => fl = 0
// r1 < r2 => fl = 0xff
// r1 > r2 => fl = 1
//
// jmpe r1
// => if (fl == 0) jmp r1
// else nop
throw “VM.exec not yet implemented”;
}
};
//————————————————————————————————–
try
{
VM.exec();
}
catch(e)
{
alert(‘\nError: ‘ + e + ‘\n’);
}
//————————————————————————————————–
That is the end of the can you crack it keyword solution