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Socoder -> Off Topic -> Encryption Challenge - #001
Wed, 24 Jan 2007, 19:10
garand
 		Start: Wednesday, January 24, 2006
End: Wednesday, January 31, 2006

What

This is a weekly challenge that will test your skills at decrypting messages.


Why

So that I can test some simple encryption techniques.


More Information

Objective

- Be the first to decrypt the weekly message!

Rules

- No HINTS! (Possible exceptions)
- No helping other people.
- 3 tries per person.

Other
- 3 different messages each week. They will all use the same algorithim:

Easy: This section will be one or two sentences.
Medium: This section will be one paragraph.
Hard: This section will be about a page.


! EXCEPTIONS !

- PM Me and I will email you the encryption program, no source. ! NOT THIS WEEK !

This Week

Ok, to start off this week there will be a very simple challege. Try to decrypt it and if you suceed you will get a big pat on the back .

Easy: 08021902150528102028210906280306202128171916081902141406192810152821090628241619130428
Medium: NOT THIS WEEK
Hard: NOT THIS WEEK

Good Luck!
Wed, 24 Jan 2007, 19:19
Yayyak
 		Hey, you stole my MD5 sum!

Seriously, I'll give it a go, should any time over the weekend miraculously appear. I have a few guesses as to how it might work.
Thu, 25 Jan 2007, 00:48
JL235
 		From reading Wikipedia, it's too long to be an MD5 hash. They also include letters since their a hexadecimal number.
Thu, 25 Jan 2007, 01:24
Yayyak
 		Damn, you've got me there.
Thu, 25 Jan 2007, 02:28
JL235
 		Easy!

I got the impression it was a series of 2 digit numbers when I first saw it, because it starts with a 0. Under that convention then other numbers also start with a 0, and the range becomes from 02 to 28. That's 26, the alphabet also has 26 letters. Each number is a letter, so I just need to convert them.

Using Ruby I then wrote the following program:


Which gives the following result: garandaaisaatheaabestaaprogrammeraainaatheaaworlcaa

which I believe translates too: "Garand is the best programmer in the worlc"

Maybe my translation is a little off, with two 'a's being spaces, but it close enough to decipher the message. Also, you misspelled world.
Thu, 25 Jan 2007, 09:46
garand
 		I guess your right. But you got it. Congrats.

BTW. I don't even know what MD5 is so its not that.
Thu, 25 Jan 2007, 10:35
Phoenix
 		MD5 is encryption only, and not possible to decrypt, so it's kind of useless for this challenge. But this is a nice idea, when is the next challenge?
Thu, 25 Jan 2007, 10:40
JL235
 		I've just realised why each word is seperated by 'aa' rather then a single one. It counts up from 'a' 26 times, and after 'z' it becomes 'aa' (and then 'ab', 'ac', and so on).

So no it isn't a 100% translation, but it's more then enough to decipher the message.
Thu, 25 Jan 2007, 16:19
Stealth
 		MD5 is for hashing. Not encryption.

The difference is that encryption can be reversed and hashing is meant to not be reversed.

To explain hashing, lets say "a=1" "b=1" and "c=2":
abc=112
aac=112
bac=112
bbc=112

All those numbers are the same.. And it can't really be reversed. Its used like this..

Lets say your password on a website is "abc" (and lets say "a=1" "b=1" and "c=2"). Your password is stored in the database (in a hashed form) as "112". When you login you type "abc" and the computer hashes the password you entered to "112". Then it checks your password against the one in the database and because "112=112" the login gets approved.

Of course hashing is a lot more complex than my example. But that was just for explaining purposes.

-=-=-
Quit posting and try Google.