kristoffersantiago 36 Report post Posted November 3, 2016 brainXploit Rules: https://community.elearnsecurity.com/topic/3505-brainxploit/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
morfal 6 Report post Posted November 3, 2016 Reference : [Wikipedia: Pigpen Cipher] By reading the hint, you can figure out it is the cry of the pig. By Googling on "pig cipher", you can find the Pigpen Cipher. Then finding the conversion table, you can decode the message. IN THE 18TH CENTURY, FREEMASONS USED PIGPEN CIPHERS TO KEEP THEIR PRIVATE RECORDS 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
caneacsu 253 Report post Posted November 3, 2016 I'm afraid google wins this one 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
morfal 6 Report post Posted November 3, 2016 7 minutes ago, caneacsu said: I'm afraid google wins this one Just a bit of thought then only Googling the right keywords helps a lot ! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
caneacsu 253 Report post Posted November 3, 2016 Or you can just google the source and find the answer 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
morfal 6 Report post Posted November 3, 2016 2 minutes ago, caneacsu said: Or you can just google the source and find the answer Not really fair, and I think the source shouldn't have been mentioned here... Maybe this could be just written in the final answer, not in the question. I promise, I did not use the source ! (I decoded the message myself with the conversion table, just for the pleasure of trying it) 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DETHTRP 3 Report post Posted November 3, 2016 Just ran across this in email - I did the manual method of building the table and solving it. The source site being available with answers does make it easier by a long shot. Use all the resources available to you, choose to what level you want to use help though. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yash007 1 Report post Posted November 3, 2016 Little bit critical thinking and you are done. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Luis Fontes 3 Report post Posted November 4, 2016 The answer is "in the 18th century, freemasons used pig pen ciphers to keep their private records" 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kristoffersantiago 36 Report post Posted November 4, 2016 On 11/3/2016 at 6:48 PM, caneacsu said: I'm afraid google wins this one @caneacsu Lol, yes, it's disappointingly easy to Google, apparently. On 11/3/2016 at 7:35 PM, morfal said: I think the source shouldn't have been mentioned here... Maybe this could be just written in the final answer, not in the question. Just playing it safe, @morfal! And since other people's answers are already visible anyway, we're banking on the hope that the rest would rather be challenged than merely Googling it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kristoffersantiago 36 Report post Posted November 4, 2016 On 11/3/2016 at 9:21 PM, DETHTRP said: Use all the resources available to you, choose to what level you want to use help though. Yes, exactly! Thank you @DETHTRP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jens 28 Report post Posted November 6, 2016 On 11/3/2016 at 9:21 PM, DETHTRP said: Just ran across this in email - I did the manual method of building the table and solving it. The source site being available with answers does make it easier by a long shot. Use all the resources available to you, choose to what level you want to use help though. That's the spirit , keeps the mind fresh ... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kristoffersantiago 36 Report post Posted November 9, 2016 Not knowing much about ciphers makes this challenge a bit difficult to figure out; but for those who do, this would be a cakewalk. The hint "oink!" obviously refers to the noise a pig makes, which would bring you to the 'Pig-pen Cipher.' This cipher does away with numbers and letters, and instead uses symbols which corresponds to positions in a grid. This pre-prepared grid would then contain the letters and numbers to be used in deciphering the code. In this challenge, the letters were arranged this way: Substituting the positions with their corresponding letters, gives the answer: "IN THE 18TH CENTURY, FREEMASONS USED PIG PEN CIPHERS TO KEEP THEIR PRIVATE RECORDS." @morfal and @Luis Fontes both posted the right answers! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GiRa 460 Report post Posted November 10, 2016 I didn't want to partecipate for very obvious reasons but I used a more manual approach. I was suspecting it was English and the 18 looked suspicious, so I copied the ciphertext in a text file by replacing the symbols with captial letters and went from there. Here's my "flux of consciousness" on this. Lesson learned: we all know that substitution ciphers are bad and also we better understand why they were compressing the words in secret messages, to get more entropy! S AB CDE 18CD FEBCGHI, LHEEJKLMBL GLEN OAP OEB FAODEHL CM QEEO CD EAH OHARKCE HEFMHNL. 18 seems suspicious, so I'm gonna with 18th C=t AB tDE 18tD FEBtGHI, LHEEJKLMBL GLEN OAP OEB FAODEHL tM QEEO tD EAH OHARKtE HEFMHNL. D=h AB thE 18th FEBtGHI, LHEEJKLMBL GLEN OAP OEB FAOhEHL tM QEEO th EAH OHARKtE HEFMHNL. E=e AB the 18th FeBtGHI, LHeeJKLMBL GLeN OAP OeB FAOheHL tM QeeO th eAH OHARKte HeFMHNL. M=o AB the 18th FeBtGHI, LHeeJKLoBL GLeN OAP OeB FAOheHL to QeeO th eAH OHARKte HeFoHNL. AB must be IN, otherwise it could be AT, but we already have a "t" around A=i iB the 18th FeBtGHI, LHeeJKLoBL GLeN OiP OeB FiOheHL to QeeO th eiH OHiRKte HeFoHNL. B=n in the 18th FentGHI, LHeeJKLonL GLeN OiP Oen FiOheHL to QeeO th eiH OHiRKte HeFoHNL. O=p because Oen seems like pen in the 18th FentGHI, LHeeJKLonL GLeN piP pen FipheHL to Qeep th eiH pHiRKte HeFoHNL. FipheHL must be cipher/ciphers F=c in the 18th centGHI, LHeeJKLonL GLeN piP pen cipheHL to Qeep th eiH pHiRKte HecoHNL. H=r in the 18th centGrI, LreeJKLonL GLeN piP pen cipherL to Qeep th eir priRKte recorNL. L=s in the 18th centGrI, sreeJKsons GseN piP pen ciphers to Qeep th eir priRKte recorNs. Q=k in the 18th centGrI, sreeJKsons GseN piP pen ciphers to keep th eir priRKte recorNs. priRKte recorNs == private records R=v in the 18th centGrI, sreeJKsons GseN piP pen ciphers to keep th eir privKte recorNs. in the 18th centGrI, sreeJasons GseN piP pen ciphers to keep th eir private recorNs. N=d in the 18th centGrI, sreeJasons Gsed piP pen ciphers to keep th eir private records. centGrI and Gsed lead to century and used G=u in the 18th centurI, sreeJasons used piP pen ciphers to keep th eir private records. I=y in the 18th century, sreeJasons used piP pen ciphers to keep th eir private records. sreeJasons and piP do not make sense a google search for "pen ciphers" got me pigpen P=g in the 18th century, sreeJasons used pig pen ciphers to keep th eir private records. sreeJasons is still a mistery Checking the ciphertext again, it's not LHEEJKLMBL it's THEEJKLMBL so it's TreeJasons Googling for "18th century asons" returns "Feemansory" as first result, so the last word is freemasons. in the 18th century, freemasons used pig pen ciphers to keep th eir private records. 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
