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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Perplex City » PXC: General/Updates
[UPDATE] The Ooze Zone - 14 June 2006
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cecilbdemented
Boot


Joined: 14 Apr 2006
Posts: 34
Location: Three feet to your left. No, your other left

 		[UPDATE] The Ooze Zone - 14 June 2006
Quote:
Another headache

Last night, you searched through the Hesh key logs and found the number we were looking for. It's not good news.

I recognise the number. It's belongs to the Academy Crypto department. It's an unallocated extension - just a general contact number for the whole department - but it does narrow things down. Thanks to Ryanandrew, Braxis and Typhin for doing the legwork (along with many others, I'm sure).

Now we just have to figure out who picked up the call. I expect they're sharp enough to have covered their tracks pretty well. I've worked with some of these Crypto guys before - they're a secretive bunch.


Crypto leads to some, well, crypto.
Quote:
Ldduodankndjz
Jvn Rnslyjkndj vlz enhod ynhczjyljcud fuy cjz lddolx audfnyndan, Rn/Acsvny, ju en vnxr ud Lalrnkw hyuodrz 2-6 Uajueny. Jvn audfnyndan auqnyz l gcrn yldhn uf juscaz, fyuk jvn xljnzj aojjcdh-nrhn lqndonz uf ynznlyav, ju eozcdnzz kurnxz ldr audanydz, ju njvcalx ldr xnhlx audzcrnyljcudz. Aoyyndjxw ndyuxxnr zjorndjz lyn vchvxw ndauoylhnr ju audjlaj jvncy lrqczuyz cd uyrny ju jlin lrqldjlhn uf fynn ynhczjyljcud.

Audhyljoxljcudz ju jvn Rnslyjkndj Gvnnx jnlk, gvcav juui fcyzj sxlan cd jvcz jnyk'z cdjny-rnslyjkndjlx auksnjcjcud! Jvn fcdlx kljav, lhlcdzj jvn Rnslyjkndj uf Dljoylx Zacndanz, glz l axuzn 3-2 qcajuyw roycdh nbjyl jckn.

Second page:
Quote:
Ldduodankndjz
Dukcdljcudz lyn aoyyndjxw encdh laansjnr fuy jvcz wnly"z Zlodcud Sycmn. Cf jvnyn cz l zjorndj wuo fnnx zchdcfcaldjxw cksyuqnr jvn xnqnx uf rczauoyzn ldr nroaljcudlx nbsnycndan fuy ujvny zjorndjz, sxnlzn zoekcj l dukcdljcdh fuyk ju jvn uffcan uf jvn Zndcuy Fnxxug.

Ron ju ynxclecxcjw ldr snyfuykldan syuexnkz, jvn GVCZI lyylw"z nbczjcdh jckn zxujz vlqn ennd ynlzzchdnr. Cf wuo vlr l GVCZI znzzcud zavnroxnr, sxnlzn audjlaj jvn xle kldlhny ju fcdr uoj gvlj wuoy dng jckn zxuj gcxx en.

It isn't ROT-13, I tried. I believe some frequency analysis or other method of codebreaking is in order.

PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 12:55 pm
Last edited by cecilbdemented on Wed Jun 14, 2006 12:59 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Benjaminbrum
Boot


Joined: 17 Aug 2005
Posts: 52
Location: Birmingham, UK

 		It seems to generate a different code each time you press refresh... or there's a set number of pages to scroll through.
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 12:59 pm
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xnera
Veteran


Joined: 03 Jun 2006
Posts: 79

 		The greek letters on the side are links to the following pages.

Alpha:
Quote:

Suuvduhltluyz
Ysl Olgspytluy ssz clrdu plrwzypsywvu avp wyz suudsb hvualpluhl, Ol/Hwgslp, yv cl slbo vu Shsoltm rpvduoz 2-6 Vhyvclp. Ysl hvualpluhl hvflpz s kwol psurl va yvgwhz, apvt ysl bsylzy hdyywur-lorl sfludlz va plzlsphs, yv cdzwulzz tvolbz suo hvuhlpuz, yv lyswhsb suo blrsb hvuzwolpsywvuz. Hdppluybm lupvbblo zydoluyz spl swrsbm luhvdpsrlo yv hvuyshy yslwp sofwzvpz wu vpolp yv ysxl sofsuysrl va apll plrwzypsywvu.

Hvurpsydbsywvuz yv ysl Olgspytluy Ksllb ylst, kswhs yvvx awpzy gbshl wu yswz ylpt'z wuylp-olgspytluysb hvtglywywvu! Ysl awusb tsyhs, srswuzy ysl Olgspytluy va Usydpsb Zhwluhlz, ksz s hbvzl 3-2 fwhyvpm odpwur liyps ywtl.


Beta:
Quote:
Ugxkuaf Ugghdvysamd Yjvddndks
Sqd Yuyrdnw Rdhyvsndks ge Uvwhsgfgjw qyp yk yjvddndks casq sqd Uasw Ugxkuaf ge Hdvhfdz Uasw sg pqyvd akegvnysagk ykr rapugmdvadp vdfdmyks sg sqd pyed ykr pnggsq ghdvysagk ge sqd uasw. Evgn sand sg sand, sqd Rdhyvsndks'p vdpdyvuq vdpxfsp ak bkgcfdrjd sqys cgxfr sqvdysdk sqd pduxvasw ge gxv dugkgnau ykr nafasyvw akpsasxsagkp, cdvd as sg odugnd hxofau bkgcfdrjd. Xkrdv sqd sdvnp ge gxv yjvddndks, sqd Ugxkuaf hdvnasp yopgfxsdfw xkedssdvdr vdpdyvuq, cqafd qgfrakj yff yeeafaysdr casq sqd rdhyvsndks sg yk dsqauyf psykryvr sqys vdlxavdp rapuvdsd ykr hvgnhs rapufgpxvd ge vdfdmyks yfjgvasqnp ykr sduqkgfgjw.


Gamma:
Quote:

Nbs Eospjdxdws?
Eospjdxdws rl, lrcpxs paj, jbz xrvzhxddi dv Pzopxzg Erjs. Jbz Tetizcs Izptojczuj dv Eospjdxdws btl rjl oddjl izzpxs zujnruzi nrjb eryre tui zedudcre tiytuezczuj. Vodc htumruw jd edccauretjrdul, dao cdizou xrvzljsxz ozxrzl bztyrxs du jbz pztez dv crui jbtj eospjdxdwre ozlztoeb wryzl jd zyzos lruwxz erjrkzu.

Bzoz tj jbz Tetizcs, nz idu'j qalj ljais eospjdxdws; nz izvruz rj. Nbtjzyzo podwotc sda ptojrerptjz ru, sda nrxx hz laoz jd zuedaujzo jbz vruzlj cruil ru jbz irlerpxruz, tui sda nrxx hz wryzu jbz jddxl jd eduiaej ozlztoeb jbtj ntl htozxs tj jbz ziwz dv rctwrutjrdu t czoz jzu sztol twd. Ud djbzo eospjdxdwretx izptojczuj ru jbz ndoxi dvvzol laeb t hoztjbjtmruw dppdojaurjs.


Delta:
Quote:

Lsmpjch & Jomcpqoq evlrqgscerv
Xoverq Lojjra: Iqrloxxrq Kpvsv Gsvxrrq

Sbfpvmc Xoverq Lojjrax: Erjsvs Boquovc, Qseds Mdovomkruxnh

Bexmqoco Gsckogscemx & Vpgyoq Ckorqh
Iqrtqsg Beqomcrq: Msgbov Irqcs
Lsmpjch: Yrqex Lsqgoq, Ispjs Bsllev, Vouejjo Mjsqn, Qrasv Sxklrqb*
Tpoxc Jomcpqoqx: Youoqjh Ijopqh, Crgsx Isqgojo*, Nsxes Hor, Frvscksv Qeinov**
** Frvscksv Qeinov rv mrvxpjcsvmh lqrg Ioqijow Mech Sqgob Lrqmox


edit:

Benjaminbrum wrote:
It seems to generate a different code each time you press refresh... or there's a set number of pages to scroll through.


Yeah, just tried refreshing the Alpha link (page zero) and got different codes.

edit 2: This is the academy's page about the crypto department. Mentions Senior Fellow Professor Hunan Mansoor, and Adjunct senior fellows Iolana Dervent and Raiza Czenechovsky.
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:02 pm
Last edited by xnera on Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:10 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Benjaminbrum
Boot


Joined: 17 Aug 2005
Posts: 52
Location: Birmingham, UK

 		I've looked at 21 different pages. (And now my eyes hurt)

Based on the first three letters of the top line of page Alpha there are the following 21 pages:

AWW
OBB
SJJ
QDD
TXX
LBB
AGG
OTT
SBB
QZZ
TEE
LVV
AHH
OJJ
SZZ
QBB
LUU
AJJ
OZZ
OFF
TCC

That's the order they appeared in. Not sure what I'm looking at really.
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:05 pm
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Mattie-Liz
Greenhorn

Joined: 14 Mar 2006
Posts: 8

 		Each time you refresh the screen the letters seem to stay in the same pattern, e.g. if the 3rd and 5th letters are the same and then you refresh then they will still be the same, so I guess we just have to substitute different letters for the ones given, but it doesn't matter which ones we start with.

PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:17 pm
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UKver2.0
Decorated

Joined: 09 Feb 2006
Posts: 270

 		Announcements:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):

The Department has begun registration for its annual conference, De/Cipher, to be held on Academy grounds 2-6 October. The conference covers a wide range of topics, from the latest cutting-edge avenues of research, to business models and concerns, to ethical and legal considerations. Currently enrolled students are highly encouraged to contact their advisors in order to take advantage of free registration. Congratulations to the Department Wheel team, which took first place in this term's inter-departmental competition! The final match, against the Department of Natural Sciences, was a close 3-2 victory during extra time.

Nominations are currently being accepted for this year's Saunion Prize. If there is a student you feel significantly improved the level of discourse and educational experience for other students, please submit a nominating form to the office of the Senior Fellow. Due to reliability and performance problems, the WHISK array's existing time slots have been reassigned. If you had a WHISK session scheduled, please contact the lab manager to find out what your new time slot will be


Council Cooperative Agreement:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):

The Academy Department of Cryptology has an agreement with the City Council of Perplex City to share information and discoveries relevant to the safe and smooth operation of the city. From time to time, the Department's research results in knowledge that would threaten the security of our economic and military institutions, were it to become public knowledge. Under the terms of our agreement, the Council permits absolutely unfettered research, while holding all affiliated with the department to an ethical standard that requires discrete and prompt disclosure of relevant algorithms and technology.

Nonetheless, under the terms of our agreement, the department operates primarily to benefit the people and businesses of the city, and not the government. We choose not to participate in government-instigated research or applications that threaten the privacy of the individual Perplexian. After all, everyone is entitled to a secret; even if it's just an excessive affection for harbonnes.


Why Cryptology?:
Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Cryptology is, simply put, the lifeblood of Perplex City. The Academy Department of Cryptology has its roots deeply entwined with civic and economic advancement. From banking to communications, our modern lifestyle relies heavily on the peace of mind that cryptologic research gives to every single citizen. Here at the Academy, we don't just study cryptology; we define it. Whatever program you participate in, you will be sure to encounter the finest minds in the discipline, and you will be given the tools to conduct research that was barely at the edge of imagination a mere ten years ago. No other cryptological department in the world offers such a breathtaking opportunity.

During their time at the Department, our students also get to deepen their understanding by considering real-world problems and applications and participate in internships and consultancies with a broad range of interests, from the PCBC and Centrifuge to the City Council, or even the Earth. Whether it's Porta's proof of the Panton Theorem or Leckworthy's analysis of the Earth-Perplex City data link, each student is sure to find a compelling challenge.

Alumni of the Department ha~e gone on to illustrious careers in research and business -- or both. Our own Master of the Academy, Sente Kiteway, famously embarked on a stellar academic career before making his fortune at Centrifuge, and was Senior Fellow of the Department for 11 years before he was elected Master.

Though few individuals achieve the exceptional success of Master Kiteway, many of our students go on to very successful careers indeed; Walter Cove-Houghton, who took a degree in the Department in 230, has stood for the PCBC as CTO and CEO after a successful consulting career; legendary Centrifuge researcher and now entrepreneur Gregory Dempsey was a 222 graduate; and City Council Member Kyra Anghanda had a very influential academic career, most notably devising the simplest algorithm ever created for creating and decoding the Olverton-Crane Scramble, before leaving her Adjunct Senior Fellow spot for politics in 257.


Faculty & Lecturer information:

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Senior Fellow: Professor Hunan Mansoor

Adjunct Senior Fellows: Iolana Dervent, Raiza Czenechovsky

Discrete Mathematics & Number Theory
Program Director: Camden Porta
Faculty: Boris Farmer, Paula Daffin, Neville Clark, Rowan Ashford*
Guest Lecturers: Beverly Pleury, Tomas Parmele*, Kasia Yeo, Jonathan Ripken**
** Jonathan Ripken on consultancy from Perplex City Armed Forces

Information Theory
Program Director: Angelica Chappe
Faculty: Elena Salaizes, Idola Friedberg, Helen Carrick, Samuel Leckworthy
Guest Lecturers: Robert Vasquez, Tanita Champion

Steganography
Program Director: Hubert Wolfe
Faculty: Oscar Rudolph*, Johann Stanton
Guest Lecturers: Lucy Camber**, Jeanette Alles, Fabrizio Cupertine
** Lucy Camber on consultancy from Genovix Systems

Security Engineering
Program Directors: Vera Bradshore and Klaus Inman
Faculty: Juanita Tian, Diana Cove-Houghton, Deborah Fowler**, Mark Wooster, Harold Coupland
Guest Lecturers: Chester Young, Rupert Scryer, Paiva Levenay, Douglas Gatlin**, Frederick Nuru, Wednesday Mittwoch
** Deborah Fowler on consultancy from Centrifuge, Douglas Gatlin on consultancy from the Perplex City Banking Corporation

Linguistics
Program Director: Shannon Kerckoffs
Faculty: Anniulke Kaplan, Brandon Powell*, Gabriel Geiger
Guest Lecturers: Johann Longhi*, Lacey Lee, Zachary Skipover

Emergent Decryption
Program Director: Lucas Bazeries
Faculty: Gaius Trabal, Karen Moro, Daniel Crowley, Laura Fanning, Jack Beech
Guest Lecturers: Haifa Hathaway, Abigail Cienega, Scott Seneca, Rupert Gomes, Evita Song

Cross-Departmental Agreements

* This mark indicates personnel who are formally affiliated with another department but still hold a position within the Department of Cryptology. Some programs are closely aligned with other departments, though the programs remain housed within the Department of Cryptology. These programs share resources and personnel from both departments. The Discrete Mathematics and Number Theory program works with the Department of Mathematics and Logic; the Steganography program works with the Department of Arts; and the Linguistics program naturally works with the Department of Languages

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:20 pm
Last edited by UKver2.0 on Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:03 pm; edited 11 times in total
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cassandra
Entrenched


Joined: 25 Mar 2005
Posts: 831

 		Bah, I was just going to post that. Very simple cryptograms. I'll do the rest after lunch if any are left.

PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:21 pm
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European Chris
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Joined: 19 Jul 2005
Posts: 1264
Location: London's trendy Whitechapel

 		That UKVer2.0 isn't just a pretty face...oh wait. Wink
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:30 pm
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Mima
Decorated


Joined: 17 Feb 2005
Posts: 260
cassandra wrote:
Bah, I was just going to post that. Very simple cryptograms. I'll do the rest after lunch if any are left.


Easy if you know how! Is there any chance of posting how it works, I am a complete idiot when it comes to codes. Does anyone know of a really simple guide on where to start if you need to unscramble code - what to look for, what type of patterns tell you which code is being used etc?

PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:33 pm
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European Chris
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Joined: 19 Jul 2005
Posts: 1264
Location: London's trendy Whitechapel

 		This is a great book for that sort of stuff....and should help with some cards as well.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1857028899/sr=1-4/qid=1150303061/ref=sr_1_4/203-8604362-3742344?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=books&v=glance
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:36 pm
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jojojojo
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Joined: 10 Dec 2005
Posts: 208
Location: Where the puffins fly, and the sheep roam.
Mima wrote:
Is there any chance of posting how it works, I am a complete idiot when it comes to codes. Does anyone know of a really simple guide on where to start if you need to unscramble code - what to look for, what type of patterns tell you which code is being used etc?


I use "Codes and Ciphers for Kids". Yes, don't laugh, literally. It's an old book, now out of print which I bought from my library for 10 English pennies. Bargainous. I suspect that the quick code breaking here was done using some kind of program. I start by looking at the three letter words, in this example, you could easily assume that "the" was the first word. Then look for double letters. Only a few letters in the English language double in words, e.g. ll, tt, rr, oo, ss etc. and go from there. It is a slow process manually, but once you get some of the letters, you can more or less guess the rest and the others fall into place.

Looking at the letter frequency can also help. "E" is the most popular letter in the English language, so counting up the letters and seeing which is the most popular can *usually* determine which letter "E" is.

EDIT: Missed a bit and I cannot spell. Boo!
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:40 pm
Last edited by jojojojo on Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:44 pm; edited 1 time in total
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jbd
Decorated

Joined: 27 Jul 2004
Posts: 295

 		First page of Delta.
[EDIT: fixed typo.]
[EDIT EDIT: UKver2 edited above to include all of them in the post. Removed.]

PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:44 pm
Last edited by jbd on Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:14 pm; edited 2 times in total
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duckiemonster
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Joined: 10 Dec 2005
Posts: 554
Location: Oxford, UK

 		Or you can just be a bit cheaty and run the whole lot through a decription programme.

Rolling Eyes
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:48 pm
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cecilbdemented
Boot


Joined: 14 Apr 2006
Posts: 34
Location: Three feet to your left. No, your other left
European Chris wrote:
This is a great book for that sort of stuff....and should help with some cards as well.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1857028899/sr=1-4/qid=1150303061/ref=sr_1_4/203-8604362-3742344?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=books&v=glance
I love that book. My sophomore year in high school, I was taking an accelerated History of the Western World class (should be called History of Europe) and for the big final project I decided to do it on the ENIGMA machine and Bletchley Park. I was researching the subject in debate class and my coach told me about that book. It was the cornerstone of my research. I also did the first challenge by myself and wanted to do the rest to win the money, but found out that I was about four years late. The latter chapters help tremendously with the 13th Labour.

PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:48 pm
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Braxis
Boot

Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 26

 		Here's a nice little site which takes some of the donkey work out of frequency ananlysis/substitution codes:
http://cryptoclub.math.uic.edu/substitutioncipher/frequency_txt.htm

The basic rule is, in any particular language, certain letters will be used more often than others. If your piece of encrypted text is large enough, you would expect the number of times a letter is used to match that in an 'ideal' piece of text. Match the substituted letter to it's nearest equivalent and you've decoded it. Doesn't always work, thereby requiring a bit of intelligence such as jojojojo mentioned.

PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:50 pm
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