Why do you think this challenge has anything to do with xor'ing with a key? It's not that kind of code.
Actually, I'd say that mob is after assembly language programmers at the moment, not people who know "basic cryptography and boolean algebra".
Moreover, they don't really care if the solution gets plastered all over the net, because from their perspective the point is not the code, but the message (that they have jobs available to British citizens with those skills). And I know that because, according to the press, they said so.
Comments
Why do you think this challenge has anything to do with xor'ing with a key? It's not that kind of code.
Actually, I'd say that mob is after assembly language programmers at the moment, not people who know "basic cryptography and boolean algebra".
Moreover, they don't really care if the solution gets plastered all over the net, because from their perspective the point is not the code, but the message (that they have jobs available to British citizens with those skills). And I know that because, according to the press, they said so.
Why do you think it doesn't? Xor ciphers are the basic blocks of S-boxes[1], which are part of several cryptosystems, like AES, DES and Blowfish.
And the word cipher is on the title.
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_box
Oh! You thought they wanted to hire people who could crack actual real world cryptosystems.