About Founders' Code

What Is This?

Founders' Code is a free, nonpartisan educational platform that teaches cryptography and cybersecurity through historical American cipher challenges. Every challenge is rooted in real history: real people, real tradecraft, real stakes.

The premise is simple: the founders of the United States were hackers. Not in the modern sense; they didn't have computers. But they broke encryption, ran covert intelligence networks, engineered security hardware, and exploited communication systems. They were doing cybersecurity centuries before the word existed.

The "Original Hackers" Framing

We use the word "hacker" in its original, positive sense: someone who understands systems deeply and finds creative ways to make them work (or reveal their weaknesses). Julius Caesar, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Harriet Tubman. They all understood the power of information security.

How Challenges Work

Each challenge has two paths:

• The Cipher Path: solve the historical cipher using the tools provided. This teaches cryptography concepts.
• The Hacker Path: find the bonus flag hidden in the page itself. This teaches web security and inspection skills.

Challenges are gated: you must solve each cipher before unlocking the next. This ensures a learning progression from basic substitution ciphers to advanced steganography.

A leaderboard tracks top performers. Create a free account to save your progress and compete.

Who It's For

Anyone. Students, teachers, security enthusiasts, history buffs, puzzle lovers. The challenges are designed to be approachable for high school students (15+) while being substantive enough for adults and professionals.

For Teachers

Every challenge includes detailed historical context (1,500-2,000 words) and discussion questions designed for 10-15 minutes of classroom discussion. The content aligns with:

• Computer Science: encryption, algorithms, security fundamentals
• History: American Revolution, intelligence history, founding era
• Mathematics: modular arithmetic, frequency analysis, probability
• Civics: constitutional history, founding principles

Founders' Code is completely free to use in classrooms. No accounts are required to start Challenge 1.

Contact

For partnerships, feedback, challenge submissions, or classroom integration questions, reach out at hello@founderscode.com.