( CNN ) -- When the National Security Agency sent a tweet Monday filled with garbled nonwords like `` tpfccdlfdtte , '' the Internet was confused , and intrigued . Was the NSA drunk ? Had a cat skittered across someone 's keyboard ? Or maybe the spy agency , under fire for eavesdropping on Americans , had accidentally blurted a secret of its own -- a coded , classified message not meant for public eyes . The truth proved to be less scandalous . Internet sleuths , armed with cryptogram-solving Web tools , solved the mystery in minutes . Turns out the nonsensical tweet was a coded recruiting pitch by the NSA , which is seeking code breakers to help decipher encrypted messages from potential terrorists . The tweet was a basic `` substitution cipher , '' a code in which each letter of the alphabet is replaced by another . Translated , it read ( SPOILER ALERT for all you wannabe codebreakers ) : `` Want to know what it takes to work at NSA ? Check back each Monday in May as we explore careers essential to protecting our nation . '' When contacted by CNN , NSA spokeswoman Marci Green Miller said the Twitter account is run by the NSA recruitment office , which will post coded tweets each Monday for the rest of the month . `` NSA is known as the code makers and code breakers , '' said Miller , who called the tweet `` part of our recruitment efforts to attract the best and the brightest . '' If the intelligence agency wanted attention , it worked . Monday 's message has been retweeted more than 1,100 times , and most major media outlets have run articles about it . In its efforts to attract top talent , the NSA has been known to recruit hackers and other computer wizards at cybersecurity conferences . The agency even set up a special page to woo attendees of DefCon , a shadowy hackers ' conference held each July in Las Vegas . A job with the NSA requires a security clearance , of course . But the agency seems eager to recruit smart people -- even , perhaps , those with minor arrest records . `` If you have a few , shall we say , indiscretions in your past , do n't be alarmed . You should n't automatically assume you wo n't be hired , '' said the recruiting page . `` If you 're really interested , you owe it to yourself to give it a shot . '' The NSA receives thousands of applications a month and is on target to meet its hiring goals for the current fiscal year , Miller said . Matthew Aid , who wrote a book about the NSA , told CNN last year that NSA hackers focus on foreign militaries , governments and corporations , and are protected by multiple levels of secrecy . Monday 's tweet was not the first time the NSA has sent a coded message on Twitter . The agency has posted three already this year to celebrate holidays , such as St. Patrick 's Day . But it might signal a renewed effort by the embattled agency to attract new blood in the wake of revelations last year by leaker Edward Snowden . Documents leaked by Snowden showed the NSA ran a secret surveillance program to intercept Americans ' phone calls and Internet messages .
The NSA sent a mysterious coded tweet to its 10,000 followers this week . Internet sleuths solved the mystery in minutes . The tweet was a recruiting tool for the intelligence agency .