Welcome to the new web site of the University of Southampton National Cipher Challenge. The official 2012 Challenge will start at 3.15 on October 4^th, and you can register online from September 21^st. Rules about cookies online have changed since last year's competition and we need to get your agreement to store them in your browser. Since we need them to make sure the site behaves properly and your work gets credited to your account we are asking you to re-register this year. By registering you are agreeing to allow us to use cookies, but we promise to only use them in connection with the National Cipher Challenge and hope you understand.

As last year if you want to enter the competition on your own you only need one account, but if you want to invite someone to join your team you can do so by using the Team Builder tab in your user profile. They need to accept the invitation and we do have some rules about joining and leaving that you should read on the rules page. At the end of round 2 we will be putting you into national squads for the National Hut Challenge. This is in addition to the usual challenge. and more information about this and everything you need to know about the competition can be found in the downloadable (and perhaps mis-named) Teachers' Pack. You can also find some useful additional resources on the site including a short guide to programming written by an erstwhile competitor, and you can download a copy of the poster as well. 

Good luck!