The UK’s intelligence, security and cyber agency GCHQ has released a puzzle to appeal to potential new recruits who can “think out of the box”.

The visual puzzle, which is a nod to the agency’s historic links with code-breaking, asks people to identify the letters contained in the picture before putting them together to reveal a hidden message.

There are 13 elements within the puzzle which represent letters of the alphabet.

GCHQ has said the puzzle, created with Manchester-based artist Justin Eagleton, has been designed to appeal to people who “process information differently and possess strong lateral-thinking skills”.

The agency has also said it is releasing the puzzle to mark the launch of its page on the LinkedIn social media platform.

Have a crack at the puzzle below

GCHQ says it set up the LinkedIn page in a move to “recruit a mix of minds to tackle the toughest challenges facing the UK and counter real-world and online threats from nation states, criminal groups, terrorists and individuals”.

Children using catapults to kill and torture animals before sharing ‘sick’ images on WhatsApp

UK economy returns to growth

Money blog: Has UK had ‘shortest recession in modern history’?

It added that its “new social media presence” is part of its “commitment to become a truly diverse and representative organisation”.

Read more from Sky News:
Why Google’s AI chatbot doesn’t talk about elections
Joe Biden says he would sign bill banning TikTok

GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler said: “The world is getting more complex and we’re only ever going to stay ahead of those threats by bringing together the right mix of minds that lets us tackle the challenges ahead.

“For us, that means bringing in people with different backgrounds, different experience, different insights, different knowledge, and creating a team where all of us can play our part. For us, it’s clear that that diversity is mission critical. 

“So we’re on a journey to make sure that we reach out and connect to people who’ve never thought of working with us. And today we’re launching on LinkedIn as a way of starting to showcase a little bit more of the work that we do and some of the amazing people who work at GCHQ.  

“And as part of launching on LinkedIn, we are in true GCHQ style – and to try and help you think out of the box – launching a puzzle too. See if you can identify the letters contained in the picture and bring them together to form a message.” 

Related posts:

Psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms ‘promising’ for treating depression Emergency alerts for terror attacks, floods and other disasters to be sent directly to your phone Pfizer jab can now be stored in a fridge for one month, regulator says China bans under-18s from playing online games for more than an hour a day NASA assembles team of scientists to study UFOs despite facing ‘reputational risk’ Musk tells Trump to ‘sail into the sunset’ in spat over Twitter Crypto.com moves to bolster confidence as market reels from FTX collapse Apple ‘set to allow rival app stores on iPhone’ to meet EU law Failure of UK’s first satellite launch explained by Virgin Orbit 362,000 Teslas recalled in US over fears full self-driving software may cause crashes ‘Rare and exciting’ opportunity to see new comet with naked eye Researchers take major step towards creating synthetic embryo-like structures