Can You Keep a Secret?

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Last updated: Sunday 8th March 2026

All of us at some time or another have dreamed of becoming a secret agent or a spy. In films, TV series, and books we see TOP SECRET documents handed to Presidents, Prime Ministers, and spymasters alike. Writers like John le Carré and Ian Fleming became iconic authors by writing fictional stories - perhaps inspired at times by true events - about espionage and deception.

But the truth is, you don't have to be James Bond or the President of the United States in order to have a perfectly legitimate need to communicate secret information with others. Indeed, keeping secrets is nothing new. Figures throughout history such as,

• Julius Caesar

• Mary, Queen of Scots

• Thomas Jefferson (one of the founding fathers of the United States), and

• King Louis XIV of France

were all proficient users of something called cryptography.

Cryptography is the science (and art, arguably) of secret communication. It has shaped historical events across multiple civilisations for centuries.

But why might you want to know about cryptography? Well, ask yourself the following questions...

• Ever sent an "end-to-end" encrypted WhatsApp message? That needs cryptography.

• Ever paid for something online using your debit or credit card? That needs cryptography.

• Ever connected to a secure WiFi network? That needs cryptography.

• Ever wondered how your favourite websites don't know (and therefore can't leak!) those passwords that you type in every day? That's thanks to cryptography.

• For that matter, you may even have noticed passwords being gradually replaced lately! Passkeys and SSO both need, you guessed it - cryptography!

In this course, we start from the very beginning. No prior knowledge is required.

Step by step, you’ll learn how messages can be hidden, scrambled, and protected using classical ciphers - and along the way, you'll develop an understanding of the foundational ideas that underpin modern 21st century encryption, too.

Encrypting our own secret messages is only half of the story, though. We will also learn how to analyse, identify weaknesses in, and ultimately decrypt the secret messages of our foes, adversaries, and opponents!

This subject matter is best learned by getting hands-on, so this course is not just about theory.

Throughout the course, you’ll join Michael as he steps into an 8-part spy story set in the fictional country of Varcosa. This island nation and former Spanish imperial colony is nowadays headed by an authoritarian Supreme Leader, whose regime may just be on the cusp of a scientific breakthrough greater than humankind's discovery of fire, penicillin, and splitting the atom combined.

Numerous encrypted documents, intercepted messages, and secret transmissions will appear along the way. It will be your job to analyse them, crack the ciphers, and uncover what is really going on. MI6 need you to report back on your findings ASAP.

Click to reveal a secret message below.

GDSQZF YQEEMSQ: FTUE OAGDEQ UE RAD HQDURUQP EBQOUMX MSQZFE AZXK. OAYYE YGEF MXIMKE NQ QZODKBFQP ITUXQ GZPQDOAHQD AD PGDUZS OAHQDF ABE.

By the end of this course, you won’t just know about cryptography - you’ll have experienced first-hand the thrill of thinking like a true codebreaker. Bletchley Park stardom awaits...

But never forget that, like so many things in life, the art of communicating and keeping secrets is only as strong as its weakest link... As they used to say during the war, "Loose lips sink ships."

So the only question that really remains is: can you keep a secret?