Hard Light Productions Forums
Hosted Projects - FS2 Required => Silent Threat: Reborn => FreeSpace Conversion => Phoenix => Topic started by: Aadarsh on November 05, 1926, 02:34:55 am
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I've noticed an increase in the number of ships reported MIA recently. Freighters, transports, and cruisers -- mostly cruisers -- just up and vanish. No sign of the crew; no sign of the vessel; no debris. Missing ships are nothing new; space is pretty big, after all. But this sort of thing makes me wonder. Does the GTI have its fingers in this?
Maybe the Shivans are eating them. Maybe they're abducting the crew and looking for cattle to mutilate. I've heard worse....
I've come to realize that there's no such thing as a conspiracy. At least, not in the way people usually think of it. It's merely an emergent behavior, caused when enough people who are out for money or power or prestige get together and start collaborating. The corrupt soldier wants more stuff to blow up; the corrupt politician wants more power; the corrupt economist wants more money. When they act on their own, they seldom get very far. But when their interests intersect, you'd better watch out. I doubt everybody in the GTI is out for the same thing; they just see it as a convenient means to further their own goals.
Maybe the Hammer of Light is right -- maybe we do deserve the Shivans. None of us would care to be blasted back to the Stone Age, but then again there wouldn't be universal surveillance, mandatory military service, or the income tax to worry about.
And on that cheery note, I've decided to pass the point of no return. I'm transmitting classified information over the holonet.
(http://holonet.hard-light.net/restricted/aadarsh/blueprints-thumb.png)
We've been incredibly busy over the past week or so; the GTI is ramping up for a major operation against the Shivans in Antares, involving all three branches of the organization. Naturally, I can't give away much about what I know if I want to remain anonymous. On the plus side, people who are busy are careless, and thanks to someone's inattention I was able to swipe the above image. It's only a thumbnail, but it looks mighty interesting.
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Level Omega...Aadarsh has some nads posting this shot. Just wish it was big enough to read some of that text.
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Well, it's not a ZIP file contained in the photo this time. Just tried that.
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Note the url of the image - blueprints-thumb.png. Its a thumbnail?
There must be a full one somewhere.
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look carefully at the background. It looks like there's a message hidden there. Its totally black at the edges but it's got fuzzy marks in the middle.
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I see it.
There's text there, but its written...backwards (the font is backwards too) I can't make heads or tails of it.
EDIT:
I got a part of it.
The first line reads:
"God Of Ohio State"
Wikipedia:
"With God, all things are possible" is the state motto of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is derived from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 19, Verse 26.
Here is the modified image. I can't readt eh rest of it...though I can make out "BEGIN DGP PRIVATE KEY BLOCK", and the last iline is "END DGP PRIVATE KEY BLOCK"
The rest appear to be some sort of hexidecimal, but I don't have the time to put the stuff into a hex editor...also, tehre has to be a better way of reading this.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v423/kc1991/OMFG.png)
I hope I don't get BANNED for this.
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Maybe the rest is in code or just a password? It sure doesn't look like it makes sense.
Edit: looks like you edited it again while I posted this. Whoops.
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Ok, this is what I make of it:
The code is probably the encrypted password, whereas "God of Ohio State" may possibly be the login.
Someone should try running this process with the other image we have - teh Shivans one in the archive and see what comes out.
Those have to have some sort of relevance along with the Einstien's modified orders -why else would Aadarsh attach it?
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Chapter 19, Verse 26.
Now look at Aadarsh's post dates:
November 05, 1926, 02:34:55
Coincidence?
I think we need to run with the post dates, in order to get the Gateway number for the Holonet.
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I did some research on the PRIVATE KEY BLOCK thing.
While the picture clearly shoud DPG KEY BLOCK, tehre is something in real life known as GPG:
http://aplawrence.com/Basics/gpg.html
from that website, I get this:
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org
mQGiBDv2vMARBACPHwe3BXmJXF5dvXxGEuxYIbYoY2naOmaArFsv1Pgl3GqhhAP7
GTGvN4A4Xo80S8i8mrSsseHE/RD7F2PS045dzP/LbDcI7EqnfU2BDoIfEmTsTupl
BKjOJUh7luhFbj2gdpbmmTUD/1BBKd42pIk/GPUcynMS9TG4kUyB6UdtRF7NydYP
o4T+0fIY8mbh5VRigoVVsukX8xuI+QaS5iB/D4j36+zk/iRy171dY43OuwCgm6rQ
a8vmmGDyCCUWFX0PVlQn5MMf97GadIAGgh1pdD7bMfB4FI84TyhNHuBDTCn0Ysff
not_a_public_key_but_other_than_this_line_it_looks_like_this_xxx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-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Probably worth a read.
EDIT:
Another, probably more useful website:
http://oregonstate.edu/cws/help/gpg_encryption_php
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If someone can supply the text, I can probably get it decrypted. I'm getting a headache trying to read all that text in the picture's background, though.
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That's what I get for keeping my monitor's brightness setting at 0. I didn't even notice those fuzzy patches. :p I think you're really on to something with the year, nuclear.
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Speaking of Engrish...
Showing the background of the color where start confidence flows in excess the start which leaves. That begins the blurry and source of the clear color isn.t immediately. Confidence follows because of shortage between, as music making. Simultaneously, the color which flows compared to increases speed starts becoming clearly. Way confidence stops, music silence, and it makes clear pulling the camera, it is damaged directly and and makes the thruster of the bomber of the Terran discharge.
Pace of semi- frenzy being strong, you kick music for the second time. The boat to be hurt harshly, the operator almost in panic the hyperventilating. In order to make the painful brain signal, but the He.s which is tried that comm and the he.s therefore you take and queer the he.s which is disturbed you speak word you are impaired closely. The eyed he.s helmeted which as for that close-up surface show thing sweats, is wide.
Operator: [ Panting ] God of Ohio state, the they.re which follows to me! Mayday! Mayday! The heavy damage where this was taken the lieutenant junior grade of gamma of the wing of patrol of the Terran which requires 3 niner. immediately fighter plane covers is reported to be, Ash rescue comes anyone!
Hmmm....
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Is that from the FS Reference bible, shoved through a ****ty translator and back again?
EDIT;
Yes, it is this:
Starts off showing opening credits over a flowing color background. It starts blurry, and the source of the color isn’t immediately apparent. The credits continue for a short while as the music builds. At the same time, the flowing colors start speeding up and becoming more clear. As the credits stop, the music hushes, then the camera pulls back quickly, revealing the damaged & sputtering thruster of a Terran bomber.
The music kicks in strong again, with a frantic pace. The ship is severely damaged, and the pilot is nearly hyperventilating in panic. He’s attempting to make a distress signal, but his comm is damaged and he’s so upset he’s talking near-gibberish. Closeups of his helmeted face show that he’s sweating and wide-eyed.
Pilot: [panting] Oh god, they’re following me!… Mayday! Mayday! This is Lieutenant Ash on Terran patrol wing Gamma… three niner… reporting… taken heavy damage… requesting immediate fighter cover and rescue… come in, anybody!
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Got most of it to show up pretty clearly. Hard to read in some places though.
(http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj251/blowfishpro/5uper_5ecret_5tuff/blueprints-test.jpg)
EDIT: The secret text appears to avoid the text boxes altogether. Not sure about the GTI logo though.
EDIT2: It looks like there is text across the GTI logo. Here's a higher contrast version of the rest:
(http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj251/blowfishpro/5uper_5ecret_5tuff/blueprints-test2.jpg)
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*squints* so...dark...
Well, alright. We have the entire thing now, except for what is behing the GTI logo...nuclear1, any hope of decryption form what we've got here?
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Working on it right now, have to copy all the characters manually.
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If it helps any, the red channel is by far the clearest in the image.
(http://i36.tinypic.com/2vba0k0.gif)
(http://i33.tinypic.com/xkniwg.gif)
Some characters are still a tad bit garbled...
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Still impossible to read the text across the GTI logo...
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Useless comment:
God of Ohio state reminds me of the Engrish FS1 Intro thing more than anything else.
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No luck.
Running the decrypt got me nothing.
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Could just be that "God of Ohio State" is the username and that long string of characters is the password...
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Okay, here's what I have so far with the code.
This is the text in the background:
God of Ohio State
-----BEGIN DGP PRIVATE KEY BLOCK-----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=ZMku
-----END PGP PRIVATE KEY BLOCK-----Now we can run it through a PGP decrypter (substituting the "DGP" in the original with "PGP") which should unveil whatever the hidden message is. It could also be that, as blowfish suggested, this whole code is just the password.
EDIT: I think this is the final version after proofreading.
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Hard to discern, but the three characters on top of the GTI logo might be 0+R
EDIT: This was confirmed by Goober. We now have the entire thing... :D
EDIT2: Goober also said you removed a newline which you shouldn't have...
EDIT3: Goober said there are a few mistakes in there...
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Awesome, except I'm still unsure about the 1/l and o/c combinations.
Can Goober confirm these too? The two pairs look extremely similar in that font.
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Awesome, except I'm still unsure about the 1/l and o/c combinations.
Can Goober confirm these too? The two pairs look extremely similar in that font.
Join IRC and ask him ;)
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(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l77/Aardwolf001/Quick%20Illustrations/guarghs2.png)
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Hey what's with the circles around the corners of the "[Classified] info text" boxes? Never mind - thats just me being thick
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God of Ohio State - Not the user name
Chapter 19, Verse 26.
Now look at Aadarsh's post dates:
November 05, 1926, 02:34:55
Coincidence?
I think we need to run with the post dates, in order to get the Gateway number for the Holonet.
I just noticed that...Someone should look up the relevent section in the bible
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Here's a full res image just in case it helps at all.
(http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/2663/162stuffrl6.jpg)
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I'm pretty sure nuclear1 has it right.
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I think we need to wait for him to get back with his decription results...
I also checked, the image isnt a secret .htm page either
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Honestly we're wondering on IRC if we don't have all of the information to solve this one. yet.
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Anyone else find it slightly amusing that the Bible passage quoted here is in the same paragraph as the "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle" quote?
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Do you have a link to that particular bible page? Please?
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Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Not that it helps much.
Did someone run the thing though a pgp decoder?
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Yes. But what do we use as the public key? That is the quesiton
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The verse number? What have you tried?
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162
1926
19:26
I don't know what nuclear tried.
I have no real understanding of how pgp keys work
Obviously a real public key would be a long hexadecimal
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It would help if I understand PGP worked too.
I know we have to have a public key, and we already have the private key.
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The way I understood the articles, as long as you have the public key or private key you should be able to decrypt the message.
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The question is now, what message?
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What I understand is the stuff behind the image is encrypted using PGP, and its probably a message of some sort.
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Oh.
Ohhhh.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
*epiphany*
*off to look for password to decrypt that message*
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Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
"Job 16:2" from Mission: Impossible...people...(Though correct me if i got the number wrong, ive not watched MI for a while).
You know that scene where Ethan Hunt starts quoting the Book of Job in his e-mails to Max.
I wonder if there is a connection between that scene and our current puzzle
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I have heard many things like thes; miserable comfortors are you all!
The verse is pretty useless in this context thou.
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What i meant was, like Ethan Hunt looked to Job 16:2 in MI
What if part of our Answer lies in Mathew 19:26
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Just as a note, Goober said we're not even remotely close when it comes to the 1926 bit. The Matthew verse is a coincidence.
"God of Ohio State" refers back to the Engrish version of the FS Ref Bible.
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Which is why I'm reading it, and trying not to die through bad language.
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Ah...Talk about going off on a tangent...
*terran_emperor gives a facepalm of biblical proportions
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Well, I read it. I didn't notice anything of interest, except that it mentioned the Ross 128 Incident.
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The stuff in the picture looks like it's the private key. It's used to decrypt things encrypted with the public key. It may require a passphrase to operate. Gaining the public key achieves nothing useful unless you have a message encrypted with the private key.
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Maybe the noise-ified shivans picture or the orders contain an encrypted message?
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So, who is Isaac Stone?
More in a few minutes.
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:wtf:
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mrozyczk@Aurora ~ $ cat tehkey
-----BEGIN PGP PRIVATE KEY BLOCK-----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=ZMku
-----END PGP PRIVATE KEY BLOCK-----
mrozyczk@Aurora ~ $ gpg --import tehkey
gpg: key 33B38FBC: secret key imported
gpg: key 33B38FBC: public key "Isaac Stone <[email protected]>" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg: imported: 1 (RSA: 1)
gpg: secret keys read: 1
gpg: secret keys imported: 1
mrozyczk@Aurora ~ $ cat password
hUj-Ge!ru_AraS-e?ewrE=e3e+uru9r5w*he+u=W=yetAju9puCRe@ume$EwResT
mrozyczk@Aurora ~ $ gpg --decrypt password
gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
gpg: decrypt_message failed: Unknown system error
mrozyczk@Aurora ~ $
However, I was able to test encryption/decryption using this key. The passphrase required to decrypt things is "God of Ohio State" - big surprise there.
Now, was that password from before the password to the archive from last week (still haven't gotten it to work for me, but the contents were posted, so meh), or have we yet to figure out what hUj-Ge!ru_AraS-e?ewrE=e3e+uru9r5w*he+u=W=yetAju9puCRe@ume$EwResT does?
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Correct, hUj-Ge!ru_AraS-e?ewrE=e3e+uru9r5w*he+u=W=yetAju9puCRe@ume$EwResT was used to open the archive, but that doesn't mean it can't be used for something else.
Very, very nice work though. :yes:
EDIT: Hmm, trying various combinations on the Holonet Restricted Area now...
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Well it looks highly unlikely that string was encrypted using gpg. This is what my poor text editor tries to make out of an encrypted message:
… HçÁ3³�¼ÿ]�\þ% ö×ÔcISð½<|Æ9q´¯…~ÑV¼ÆðÄ0¯%§¯ÞÄÀ$Z;W@y€ãº£ bGÀéÖY©<<ÅXø�Xd^)>ìª�¼· åÈ´€zýrÜ— ¯wWmuba–‡´Ÿ3Ò.T pÚóå=ÈŠ‘›èâ�ùþ#Z
rÄ�Τçb³è
Whatever the message is that we need to decrypt using this key, it isn't going to be pretty-looking ASCII.
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No joy getting in yet...
hUj-Ge!ru_AraS-e?ewrE=e3e+uru9r5w*he+u=W=yetAju9puCRe@ume$EwResT
anagram the capital letters you get "AUG SECRET WAR". No idea if it is co-incidence or not. But it could be relevent
...
I want to see if >[email protected]> is an e-mail address
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If you wish to get this set up yourselves, you can paste the quoted text from my last post into a new file and try to decrypt it to make sure you've got it right. Just make sure your text editor is set for unix line endings.
I've also tried lots of login combinations to the Restricted section of the Holonet for our friend Isaac, no luck there.
-
Okay, here's what we have:
-A public key
-A private key
-An email address
-The Einstein's orders in a .txt document
-A noisy picture of the Shivans
-A picture of the Ross 128 excavation planet
-The Hades blueprint thumbnail
Hmm...
-
I'm guessing that the title of this thread is also a hint... :nervous:
-
I went back and checked all the other images involved... but I couldn't find any hidden text
-
I'm guessing that the title of this thread is also a hint... :nervous:
The title may have been a hint to "highlight" the image in order to view the text. Just out of curiosity, though, where did this Isaac Stone address turn up from?
-
From here
mrozyczk@Aurora ~ $ cat tehkey
-----BEGIN PGP PRIVATE KEY BLOCK-----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=ZMku
-----END PGP PRIVATE KEY BLOCK-----
mrozyczk@Aurora ~ $ gpg --import tehkey
gpg: key 33B38FBC: secret key imported
gpg: key 33B38FBC: public key "Isaac Stone <[email protected]>" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg: imported: 1 (RSA: 1)
gpg: secret keys read: 1
gpg: secret keys imported: 1
mrozyczk@Aurora ~ $ cat password
hUj-Ge!ru_AraS-e?ewrE=e3e+uru9r5w*he+u=W=yetAju9puCRe@ume$EwResT
mrozyczk@Aurora ~ $ gpg --decrypt password
gpg: no valid OpenPGP data found.
gpg: decrypt_message failed: Unknown system error
mrozyczk@Aurora ~ $
However, I was able to test encryption/decryption using this key. The passphrase required to decrypt things is "God of Ohio State" - big surprise there.
Now, was that password from before the password to the archive from last week (still haven't gotten it to work for me, but the contents were posted, so meh), or have we yet to figure out what hUj-Ge!ru_AraS-e?ewrE=e3e+uru9r5w*he+u=W=yetAju9puCRe@ume$EwResT does?
Now the big mistery is "who is Isaac Stone"
-
A GTI bigwig, perhaps? Aadarsh could have included the encrypted text to point to the mailing address of a significant figure in the Hades project.
-
someone should try mailing him to see if there is a response
-
I've just tried that. It didn't bounce, which gives me some hope.
-
It will bounce. You can't have a .gta domain suffix.
-
Goober says it's not a self contained puzzle
-
...maybe I'm being incredibly dense, but I still don't know exactly where that name/address came from. Was it generated somehow as a result of the encryption scheme that I completely don't understand? Or did someone stumble across it somewhere?
-
...maybe I'm being incredibly dense, but I still don't know exactly where that name/address came from. Was it generated somehow as a result of the encryption scheme that I completely don't understand? Or did someone stumble across it somewhere?
According to MikeRoz it was the result of his decryption of the code hidden in the picture
-
Ah, okay. Cryptography is one field I know absolutely nothing about, so I didn't pick up that much while skimming through those linked articles earlier.
-
I have negative knowledge about cryptography either, so I won't be of much help either. :(
-
...maybe I'm being incredibly dense, but I still don't know exactly where that name/address came from. Was it generated somehow as a result of the encryption scheme that I completely don't understand? Or did someone stumble across it somewhere?
According to MikeRoz it was the result of his decryption of the code hidden in the picture
No.
The text hidden in the picture is a private key, not an encrypted message. It can be used to decrypt messages encrypted with it. Encoded along with the key was the name of the user it belongs to. To use the key, you still need a passphrase, which fortunately is "The God of Ohio State".
We don't seem to have a message to decrypt using this key yet. I'm guessing we either have to find it (unlikely, people have already been pretty thorough) or we have to wait until next week to get a message to decrypt.
-
oh...so where did "[email protected]" come from
-
From what I understand, a specific email account has a public and private key assigned to it--what MikeRoz has done is found the email address associated with the private key we found in the picture.
-
What if "Isaac Stone" is part of the necessary login info?
Also, could I have a link to that "Holonet" site? I seem to have lost it.
-
http://holonet.hard-light.net/
I've also tried about a million and a half combinations with Isaac Stone and the info we currently have and have so far come up with nothing, but you're certainly willing to try.
-
See attached.
I think from now on I'm going to encrypt all my messages with Isaac Stone's public
key :D
Maybe we should make a thread in the general discussion forum, and have it all be
people from this subforum communicating using encrypted messages. Would be fun, no?
[attachment deleted by necromancer]
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What does this mean?
-
maybe its something we need a language pack to read...you know how arabic or japanese text looks if you dont have the language packs installed, thats what that message reminds me of...
-
Personally, I doubt that they would type a message in ... in ... Hmm.
Wait, if it was, wouldn't it show up in boxes and what not?
Also, where did that text come from?
-
Maybe that text file isn't a text file? I've tried to save it as several types of files but no luck so far.
-
MikeRoz, where did you actually find the email thing? I'm lost...again.
-
PGP keys store a name, email and optionally a comment of the owner of the key.
-
Ah.
Well, Isaac Stone is a pretty generic name. Google yields nothing interesting, at least at first glance.
-
Message is attached.
@nuclear1: The attachment is an encrypted message, encrypted by me using Isaac
Stone's private key. Just use his private key to decrypt it.
@terran_empeoror:The odd characters are a result of character values being used
outside the ASCII namespace. Escape characters and the like as well.
@Stormkeeper:See above.
@Solatar:It's not actually a text file, sorry about that. I added the .txt extension
to the file so that HLP would let me post it (files without extensions are not
accepted), but the board was doing something to the file that would render it
undecypherable upon the return trip. So I put the .txt in a .rar. Problem solved!
It will be interesting to see how they get the encrypted message to us. It would be
even more amusing if they never actually used this key to encrypt anything
"official"...
Anyway, it's very simple to decrypt these files. I don't know if a version of GnuPG
exists for Windows, but on Linux you just have to install the package containing
GnuPG. Then, if you look at Post #54 in this thread you'll see the commands I used
to import Isaac's private key. Then run gpg "--out post2.decrypted --decrypt
post2.encrypted" in a directory containing the encrypted file. You will be prompted
for the passphrase, which is "God of Ohio State", and then a file will appear called
post2.decrypted, containing this text.
Encrypting a message is just as simple. Use your favorite text editor (something
that uses Unix (LF) line endings, preferably) to create a file with the text you
want encrypted. In my case, I called it post2. Then, you run
"gpg --out post2.encrypted --encrypt post2" - post2.encrypted will be created,
containing the secret message.
[attachment deleted by necromancer]
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Ok, now which program did you use to decode it?
-
See attached.
Well done, you've just confused everyone even more.
Naq ba gung abgr guvf yvar vf tbvat gb or va ebg13, znvayl orpnhfr ivz unf n pbairavrag (lrg cbvagyrff) srngher bs qbvat vg. :p
Isn't cryptography fun!
-
Naq ba gung abgr guvf yvar vf tbvat gb or va ebg13, znvayl orpnhfr ivz unf n pbairavrag (lrg cbvagyrff) srngher bs qbvat vg.
Is that what the message says...or did you just encode an insulting sentence...
Thinking on it, the jumble of symbols i get when i open those 2 .txt files reminds me of the jumbled mess of symbols id always get when i tried to open up the .tbl files from the Retail version of FS1
-
wild guess... could it be vasudan?
-
If I had to guess, I'd say that's a transcription of the standard untranslated Vasudan audio clip. :p
-
Bah, don't you guys recognize rot13 when you see it? :p
-
Bah, don't you guys recognize rot13 when you see it? :p
You serious or pulling our legs? :p
-
Naq ba gung abgr guvf yvar vf tbvat gb or va ebg13, znvayl orpnhfr...
And on that note this line is going to be in rot13, mainly, because...
yep.
-
Well that yielded nothing of consequence... :doubt:
EDIT: At least as far as we know ATM...
-
Ahh...but it looks to be the first half of the phrase...Maybe the next half will be revealed in the next puzzel...
BTW when is the next puzzel coming out?
Wait a moment, just thought of something...I'll get back to you... Never mind it didnt pan out
OK decoded the entire sentence (without a converter i might add)
And on that note this line is going to be in rot13, mainly, because vim has a convenient (yet pointless) feature on doing it
...Who, or what, the smeg is vim?
-
You're thinking too much into something that doesn't matter.
Spicious was making a joke.
-
It was merely a hint towards figuring out the attachments, which I'm sure you'll find similarly disappointing.
-
It was merely a hint towards figuring out the attachments, which I'm sure you'll find similarly disappointing.
So there's another person besides the ST:R team that's figured out how
to decode these?
Just so you know, I'm using nano to write this. vim sucks. So does
emacs.
So, are we going to make a thread in which we pass only encrypted
messages or what?
[attachment deleted by necromancer]
-
Eww, I have lost all respect for you.
I don't see the point. This thread is already serving that purpose.
-
*pretends he knows what the hell is going on*
-
"The upload folder is full. Please try a smaller file and/or contact an administrator."
This with a 658-byte file...
-
*pretends he knows what the hell is going on*
Hey, I'm doing this too! :D
-
I don't see the point. This thread is already serving that purpose.
But I'm the only one posting encrypted messages. Other people should
post them too.
I'm going to make a new thread. Of the people that can read this,
*everyone* should post encrypted messages in it. Feel free to take
whatever side you want :p
And lol @ the using nano == no respect thing.
[attachment deleted by necromancer]
-
Okay, has any progress been made on this? I'm totally confused.
-
No.
-
No, and I don't have any idea why we're getting random encoded pieces of texts in these attachments...
-
No.
What do you mean no? We've solved the puzzle as far as we can, unless
the message we're supposed to decrypt is somehow hidden in the noisy
Shivan file. We have to wait until next week for a message to decrypt.
[attachment deleted by necromancer]
-
No, and I don't have any idea why we're getting random encoded pieces of texts in these attachments...
Seriously...could someone please explain what's going on in plain English? If all of us in here are supposed to be working through this whole mystery together, it's entirely self-defeating to have one half leaving the other half completely in the dark about what they're doing. Mike, I'm obviously not the only one who has no idea what those attachments are, what they mean, or where they're coming from, and quite frankly, it's getting more than a little bit frustrating.
-
Ok, just to sum up where we are in this whole thing:
Obviously, we have found out what 162 refers to and found this forum and this is where the actual puzzle starts.
Our messages come from some GTI person calling himself Aadarsh. The text "2-∞ - User does not compute" for this user seems to be a bug in the forum software and appears, because this user has only posted in a hidden forum, so he has "zero official messages" but there are messages created by him. It really seems to be a bug, I can't imagine that the text relates to the puzzle (MikeRoz, thanks for pointing out the same effect for my user after I had finally registered a my very own user to be able to post here).
- The first message ("Can anyone hear me?", October 10, 1926, 05:07:28 PM) seems like it is just an introduction to see whether people get here and to set the mood
- Next message was: "Not as it appears", October 26, 1926, 06:54:58 PM. Here, we have a mission briefing for a science vessel sent to Ross 128, shortly before the Shivan incursion. The briefing consists of an image and some text. "Not as it appears" probably refers to the image, because after the image data, a zip file has been appended. When the file is renamed to .ZIP, many programs can extract it. The password for the zip file is "hUj-Ge!ru_AraS-e?ewrE=e3e+uru9r5w*he+u=W=yetAju9puCRe@ume$EwResT", as stated in the post itself. The hidden zip file contains the actual, classified mission briefing of the science vessel and a probe image showing Shivan ships. It seems that the official mission briefing was just a cover-up, but in terms of the puzzle there seem to be no obious hints in either the secret mission briefing or the secret probe image.
The image in this post is loaded from the address http://holonet.hard-light.net/restricted/aadarsh/POINTS%20OF%20INTEREST.PNG which makes us aware of the existence of a web site at http://holonet.hard-light.net. So this must be the "holonet" but we can currently only read some public reference information and don't know how to log in. At some later point we will probably need to use the information that is given about the Vasudan language but at present, we don't seem to need that yet. - The next message ("Interesting times...", October 30, 1926, 06:18:24 PM) talks about the fact that people from outside have found the first messages. These people are us. They (i.e. we) only use four byte-addresses (for the current Internet Protocol, each address uses four bytes) and come from outsite the holonet. However, the title "Interesting times" is probably a hint that the DATES of the posts are quite "interesting", as has been noted by others. So far, nobody seems to have found out what these times refer to. Some speculations about a bible verse reference connected to the number 1926 have been officially stated to be wrong.
- Then comes the fourth message ("Some more highlights", November 05, 1926, 02:34:55 AM). There we have some image that shows a probably classified ship. On the image itself, there is some hidden text that can be made visible by subtracting the regular dot-pattern that is overlayed over the complete image and by a few colour manipulations to make things more readable. The name "Points of interest" for the previous image might be a hint that now, one needs to remove the dot-pattern that covers the image so that the text becomes readable (or I could just be over-thinking). The text in that image is a key that can be used to decrypt information together with the words "God of Ohio State". The prase "God of Ohio State" is taken from a horrible translation of the Freespace Reference Bible and these words are the password which is needed to use the key for actually decrypting something. As a result, we have a usable key for decrypting things, but we have not yet found any encrypted message for which we could use the key.
In addition to key data itself, any PGP key also contains some more data about the key's possessor (this is how PGP keys work - they contain additional information about a key's possessor and this information is used by encryption/decryption programs). The key that our friend sent us contains the information that it belongs to "Isaac Stone <[email protected]>". This is of course a fake email address, because there is no such thing as a .gta domain on OUR internet. But it alerts us of the fact that this is the private key with which a person called "Isaac Stone" decrypts (and also digitally signs) his messages. This means that if we now find encrypted messages for mister stone, we can read them because we have his key and the password for his key.
It's also said that the image in this post is "only a thumbnail" and the image has the address http://holonet.hard-light.net/restricted/aadarsh/blueprints-thumb.png but playing with the image URL does not easily give access to a bigger version of that image (for example, there is no image called blueprints.png, blueprints-full.png, blueprints-normal.png, blueprints-big.png, etc. lying at the same place).
So what are the next steps? Obvious things that we are lacking are:
- we have a key that can decrypt messages for a certain "Isaac Stone" but we don't have any such message yet.
- we don't have a login for the restricted functions of the "Holonet" website at http://holonet.hard-light.net.
- We don't know what the post dates mean (The year is "1926" and even the days are weird).
And on a further note: MikeRoz tries his best to keep people from focusing at the puzzle by spreading attachments with self-created messages that have nothing to do with the puzzle. So again for everybody: MikeRoz's Attachments have NOTHING to do with the puzzle. Mike has created these attachments by himself. Mike, you are not helping.
Also, it would be great for everybody to not make posts that don't help for getting further or ask questions without having read everything that has been posted here so far. Posts that just contain things like "Thank you", "I don't get it", etc. are cluttering everyting and will make things harder to follow and understand for everybody. And on the other hand it would be nice if those who have found out something could explain it clearly enough so that everybody can understand it and not just computer-hotshots.
(sorry for typos and for the many edits after posting this originally)
-
Grrr. Someone please monkey mike from the Pheonix boards. He's causing more problems than he's solving
-
And on a further note: MikeRoz tries his best to keep people from focusing at the puzzle by spreading attachments with self-created messages that have nothing to do with the puzzle. So again for everybody: MikeRoz's Attachments have NOTHING to do with the puzzle. Mike has created these attachments by himself. Mike, you are not helping.
Grrr. Someone please monkey mike from the Pheonix boards. He's causing more problems than he's solving
I'm not helping, eh?
* I gave you guys the correct private key (there were numerous
transcription errors in Nuclear1's last posted plaintext
version).
* I was the first to successfully import this key.
* I was the first to post how to import the key yourself, and how to
decrypt messages. All the necessary commands are in post #54.
* I also helpfully explained what was going on in post #73.
This is about the point where I decided to start encrypting my
messages. People who were following along should have easily been able
to decrypt them, right? I'm sorry if, after explaining what we had and
didn't have several times, some people couldn't be bothered to read, and
were left wondering what those attachments full of weird characters
were. Guess what - everyone who took the time to decode them now knows
how to decode the *real* message once it comes out, and might have even
learned something in the process.
Decent summary, though, faxi. I agree with just about everything except
the part about the dot pattern in the image. The thing about our friend
Isaac's key is that it's in ASCII - there's a representation for every
character involved. Lots of the chracters in encrypted PGP messages like
this one don't *have* ASCII representations. When we get this message,
it's probably going to be an honest-to-goodness file, which we find
either in an upcoming post or on the holonet. Oh, and I also disagree
with the part about me trying to mislead people, for numerous and
obvious reasons. Other than that, it looks right so far :)
[attachment deleted by necromancer]
-
Okay...Now he's just doing it deliberatly to piss us off...
-
I'll boot him from gen_disc if i see it again.
I'll have a Mod-to-Mod word in goobs shell.
-
I'll boot him from gen_disc if i see it again.
:wtf:
-
Look, it was never my direct intent to confuse or piss-off anyone. Maybe at first, but only enough so that they figured out how to decrypt messages for Isaac Stone for themselves.
I've edited all my "encrypted" posts to include the decrypted text.
[attachment deleted by necromancer]
-
So...care to explain what the hell this "post8.rar" is?
-
faxi, you freakin' rule. That was utterly brilliant. Kudos to Dekker for editing it into his thread, too. :)
And Mike, it's nice and all that you're trying to teach us how to decrypt files, but I (and apparently others) had no idea that that's what you were doing in the first place, since it seemed like you were being intentionally vague in earlier posts. I have no access to a Unix-based machine myself, and I'm not about to go out and download some random programs to gain the ability to perform PGP decryptions. All of us here presumably have different skill sets, and if those who are well-versed in such topics as text encryption are willing to take on this aspect of the puzzle, maybe the rest of us will be able to pitch in in some other respect down the line.
-
faxi, you freakin' rule. That was utterly brilliant. Kudos to Dekker for editing it into his thread, too. :)
And Mike, it's nice and all that you're trying to teach us how to decrypt files, but I (and apparently others) had no idea that that's what you were doing in the first place, since it seemed like you were being intentionally vague in earlier posts. I have no access to a Unix-based machine myself, and I'm not about to go out and download some random programs to gain the ability to perform PGP decryptions. All of us here presumably have different skill sets, and if those who are well-versed in such topics as text encryption are willing to take on this aspect of the puzzle, maybe the rest of us will be able to pitch in in some other respect down the line.
I'm guessing that writing won't help here, right? :nervous: