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A little game

  • 21-04-2015 2:26pm
    #1
    Khannie
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    I got an unexpected email today. It was clearly a base64 encoded string. I decoded it and it decoded to 18 decimal digits. Oooh! A little mystery!

    Now I'm a little rusty on these fun and games but here's what I did:

    Convert to hex (thought maybe a PGP key sequence or something, then obviously not)
    Convert to ascii (some letters and some symbols, one unprintable)
    Convert to ascii with some digit ignoring / shifting (managed to get an @ symbol doing this so I thought I was on to something)

    It's not a phone number. It's not a set of IP octets.

    So, infosec forum - Hit me with your suggestions.


Comments

  • #2
    Kinet1c
    Closed Accounts Posts: 824 ✭✭✭Kinet1c


    Reverse order and convert to hex|ascii?


  • #3
    timmywex
    Registered Users Posts: 2,626 ✭✭✭timmywex


    Was there any context to the email or the sender that could give a hint?


  • #4
    syklops
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,969 ✭✭✭✭syklops


    Khannie wrote: »
    I got an unexpected email today. It was clearly a base64 encoded string. I decoded it and it decoded to 18 decimal digits. Oooh! A little mystery!

    Now I'm a little rusty on these fun and games but here's what I did:

    Convert to hex (thought maybe a PGP key sequence or something, then obviously not)
    Convert to ascii (some letters and some symbols, one unprintable)
    Convert to ascii with some digit ignoring / shifting (managed to get an @ symbol doing this so I thought I was on to something)

    It's not a phone number. It's not a set of IP octets.

    So, infosec forum - Hit me with your suggestions.

    Are you sure its not an IP address in decimal format?


  • #5
    Geniass
    Closed Accounts Posts: 643 ✭✭✭Geniass


    Isn't there some weird anonymous type group that make contact with people asking them to solve puzzles and once they've jumped through several hoops they let them into a "cell" where they help them with "projects" - very little is ever told to the inductee and they abandon them at will.

    If that's the case there'll be several more puzzles following on from this.

    Of course, this could just be your mate pulling your leg :)


  • #6
    Khannie
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    timmywex wrote: »
    Was there any context to the email or the sender that could give a hint?

    None at all.
    syklops wrote: »
    Are you sure its not an IP address in decimal format?

    yeah, it's too long.


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  • #7
    Khannie
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    Kinet1c wrote: »
    Reverse order and convert to hex|ascii?

    Good idea. No dice though.


  • #8
    Spear
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Help & Feedback Category Moderators Posts: 25,047 CMod ✭✭✭✭Spear


    Khannie wrote: »
    yeah, it's too long.

    Too long for both IP v4 and v6?


  • #9
    Kinet1c
    Closed Accounts Posts: 824 ✭✭✭Kinet1c


    Thrown binary in to the equation and back out as something else?

    Tried the phone code thigny from "The Wire" ?:pac:


  • #10
    Blowfish
    Registered Users Posts: 5,112 ✭✭✭Blowfish


    A ridiculously accurate geo location?


  • #11
    Khannie
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    Spear wrote: »
    Too long for both IP v4 and v6?

    Not too long for v6. Had thought that earlier. I'll give that a whirl later.


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  • #12
    dbit
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,322 ✭✭✭dbit


    what are the translated digits from the decode ? Irish alphabet is 18 letters hardly a rot-N that would be too easy ?



    Naaa as it would be 36 characters then and not 18 for Irish alphabet as per two hex values for every letter.


  • #13
    dbit
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,322 ✭✭✭dbit


    Anons used to have a task upon joinup that was more of a piss take , you would decipher a given string and instructed to run x ,y , or Z then a script would push on the back of the command sets and would simply format C:\ , I remember this from around 5 years ago.


    Possibly throw it through fizzy calc for as prev suggested Geo location if the output is similar to :-

    18T E 308066 N 2230044


  • #14
    Khannie
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    Blowfish wrote: »
    A ridiculously accurate geo location?

    Checks out. Nigeria. (not joking)

    Ridiculously complex Nigerian scam.

    Alternatively would have been in Ethiopia, Antarctica and the barents sea depending on + / - and decimal placing.


  • #15
    dbit
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,322 ✭✭✭dbit


    So all they need now is the cousin George accent , your sort code and bank account details. And some open heart felt weakness for prince ileja the third and his poor banking predicament .


  • #16
    dbit
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,322 ✭✭✭dbit


    Im failing to see how its a scam, was it contained with executable script ? was this stripped out of something as the file on its own would be moot ?


  • #17
    BoB_BoT
    Registered Users Posts: 1,835 ✭✭✭BoB_BoT


    Khannie wrote: »
    Checks out. Nigeria. (not joking)

    Ridiculously complex Nigerian scam.

    Alternatively would have been in Ethiopia, Antarctica and the barents sea depending on + / - and decimal placing.

    It's obviously where the riches are hidden. I know a company in Nigeria that will visit the location and dig it up, for the nominal sum of €5000.


  • #18
    Khannie
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    dbit wrote: »
    Im failing to see how its a scam

    I was joking. :)


  • #19
    Khannie
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 37,485 Mod ✭✭✭✭Khannie


    BoB_BoT wrote: »
    It's obviously where the riches are hidden. I know a company in Nigeria that will visit the location and dig it up, for the nominal sum of €5000.

    I only trust a prince to carry out this task for me. There could be millions at that location.


  • #20
    dbit
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,322 ✭✭✭dbit


    joking not joking , im lost and a bit retarded. Lolz.


  • #21
    eddiehen
    Registered Users Posts: 155 ✭✭eddiehen


    Hmmm....

    1. Distract sysadmin with his equivalent of a dog's bone
    2. ?????
    3. PROFIT!!


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  • #22
    BoB_BoT
    Registered Users Posts: 1,835 ✭✭✭BoB_BoT


    eddiehen wrote: »
    Hmmm....

    1. Distract sysadmin with his equivalent of a dog's bone
    2. ?????
    3. PROFIT!!

    2. Meanwhile, while Khannie was distracted trying to decipher an email puzzle, his firewalls were penetrated, servers breeched, client machines infected , his passwords set to "password" and wireless routers security set to WEP.

    What a cunning people the scammers are.


  • #23
    dbit
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,322 ✭✭✭dbit


    Tapping on the left shoulder as you stand by the right . Yes i think i see now.


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