“Ibp Xojbbp coxkzxfpbp”: but what does the mysterious tweet from the General Staff of the Armed Forces mean ?

Le Général Thierry Burkhard, chef d’Etat major des Armées, lors de la cérémonie de commémoration du 30eme anniversaire de l’opération militaire Daguet. Romain GAILLARD – MAXPPP

Monday March 18, 2024, the official account of the General Staff of the French armies posted an indecipherable message on the social network X: "Ibp Xojbbp coxkzxfpbp p’ bkqoxfkbkq xr zljyxq zvybo".

What does this message mean that intrigued Internet users on  "Ibp

Ibp Xojbbp coxkzxfpbp p’bkqoxfkbkq xr zljyxq zvybo. @ComcyberFR

— Armée française – Opérations militaires (@EtatMajorFR) March 18, 2024

A coded message

It turns out to be simply a coded message. No, this is not a clumsiness or an error on the part of the army community manager.

For those familiar with cryptography, this is a shift cipher, one of the oldest (and easiest) ways to code a communication, specifies The Huffington Post. Julius Caesar already used it in the 1st century BC. Each letter is shifted by a always fixed number, with, sometimes, changes along the way to make things more complicated. affair, explain our colleagues.

What does it mean?

The mysterious message meant: "The French armies are training for cyber combat", a deciphered the French Army on X a little later in the day, congratulating Internet users for their good answers.

"Les armées françaises s’entraînent au combat cyber." Bravo à toutes les bonnes réponses ! 😉

— Armée française – Opérations militaires (@EtatMajorFR) March 18, 2024

The DEFNET exercise

From March 18 to 29, 2024, the French defense forces are indeed engaged in the DEFNET exercise, cybercombat training in which all the armies collaborate.

This is the tenth edition of an exercise led by the Cyber ​​Defense Command (COMCYBER), specifies the website of the Ministry of the Armed Forces. Around thirty simultaneous cyber incidents allow cyber combatants to train.