

Crack the Code in Cyber Command's Logo - chip
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/solve-the-mystery-code-in-cyber-commands-logo/

======
bithub
echo md5('USCYBERCOM plans, coordinates, integrates, synchronizes and conducts
activities to: direct the operations and defense of specified Department of
Defense information networks and; prepare to, and when directed, conduct full
spectrum military cyberspace operations in order to enable actions in all
domains, ensure US/Allied freedom of action in cyberspace and deny the same to
our adversaries.');

results in

9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a

~~~
tptacek
Lame.

~~~
tptacek
I mean... it's the _MD5_ of a snippet of content off their website? That
really tells you all you need to know about "Cyber Command", doesn't it?

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res0nat0r
It is the same length as an md5sum which isn't solved. Googling
9EC4C12949A4F31474F299058CE2B22A bring up this strange site:
<http://www.niconnect.com/>

Which just has a QR code on the front of the site and nothing else. Decoding
the QR with <http://zxing.org/w/decode.jspx> shows the text:

NICONNECT.COM Poder Cibernetico 9EC4C12949A4F31474F299058CE2B22A Brazil

"Poder Cibernetico" in Portuguese sounds like "Cyber Power" or something such.

~~~
res0nat0r
The md5 decrypted via md5decrypter.com resolves to:

"SCYBERCOM plans, coordinates, integrates, synchronizes and conducts
activities to: direct the operations and defense of specified Department of
Defense information networks and; prepare to, and when directed, conduct full
spectrum military cyberspace operations in order to enable actions in all
domains, ensure US/Allied freedom of action in cyberspace and deny the same to
our adversaries."

~~~
aquadoctorbob
You're missing a U at the beginning of the string.

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kmfrk
>The U.S. military’s new Cyber Command is headquartered at Ft. Meade, Maryland
– one of the military’s most secretive and secure facilities.

And yet they use something akin to viral marketing to raise awareness of its
existence?

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CitizenKane
I imagine someone with some good GPU power could try and brute force the hash.
With something like <http://hashcat.net/oclhashcat/>

It would be interesting to see if anything comes out of it.

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tptacek
I didn't read this very carefully, but why does 128 bits automatically make it
a hash? That's also the block size for AES, and the length of the string "US
Cyber Command".

~~~
mixmax
That's what I thought.

If they expect it to be cracked (which they might, why put it there if you
don't expect anyone to crack it) it could be something much simpler. I'd maybe
start looking at some sort of substitution scheme or something similar.

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jfwjrr
i bet they heard of some cyber attack on the government and they wanted to get
all you geaks together and you'd come across what they wanted to know and then
bam they take the credit and so on becuase they are stupid

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jasongullickson
It decodes to the email address of the recruiting officer...

...maybe :)

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HackerMe234
It might mean something like a computer kill code or something

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openfly
It's a hash. Not in any of my rainbow tables though =/

~~~
Agent101
So 128 bits? I'd guess they wouldn't use md5 (or any of the md family), which
according to wiki leaves haval/ripemd/tiger. I'd go for ripemd-128 (on what
the wiki says) although you would expect them to use a NSA blessed algorithm.

~~~
wdewind
Wouldn't you also expect it to be realistically crackable? Otherwise why
bother

~~~
powrtoch
I don't think they're expecting it to be cracked, per se, just guessed. I
don't have to have defeated the SHA-256 algorithm to find your hashed password
in a rainbow table.

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jfwjrr
or get this one they are looking for hackers and they well you all fell into
their trap??? dunno lol conspiracies are born everyday.

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jfwjrr
the reason i say this is because i've tried cracking a few ways and for some
reason they are stopped not by me but someone else.

