Back in November Geek Native was involved in surfacing a mysterious site and asked is big money behind Can You Crack It?.
The answer is both yes and no. The mainstream press has now revealed who was actually behind the game; it’s the British spy headquarters GCHQ. The Guardian reveals that Can You Crack It is designed to fast track the recruitment of cyber-spies.
If you want a go yourself then pop over to Can You Crack It. There’s no letter higher than F in the sequence and that should speak volumes to people who know even just a little HTML however you’ll need full-on coding skills to get as far as the solutions that have been shared with the public.
Here’s the image as text:
eb 04 af c2 bf a3 81 ec 00 01 00 00 31 c9 88 0c 0c fe c1 75 f9 31 c0 ba ef be ad de 02 04 0c 00 d0 c1 ca 08 8a 1c 0c 8a 3c 04 88 1c 04 88 3c 0c fe c1 75 e8 e9 5c 00 00 00 89 e3 81 c3 04 00 00 00 5c 58 3d 41 41 41 41 75 43 58 3d 42 42 42 42 75 3b 5a 89 d1 89 e6 89 df 29 cf f3 a4 89 de 89 d1 89 df 29 cf 31 c0 31 db 31 d2 fe c0 02 1c 06 8a 14 06 8a 34 1e 88 34 06 88 14 1e 00 f2 30 f6 8a 1c 16 8a 17 30 da 88 17 47 49 75 de 31 db 89 d8 fe c0 cd 80 90 90 e8 9d ff ff ff 41 41 41 41
What happens when you convert it to ASCII decimal?
235 4 175 194 191 163 129 236 0 1 0 0 49 201 136 12 12 254 193 117 249 49 192 186 239 190 173 222 2 4 12 0 208 193 202 8 138 28 12 138 60 4 136 28 4 136 60 12 254 193 117 232 233 92 0 0 0 137 227 129 195 4 0 0 0 92 88 61 65 65 65 65 117 67 88 61 66 66 66 66 117 59 90 137 209 137 230 137 223 41 207 243 164 137 222 137 209 137 223 41 207 49 192 49 219 49 210 254 192 2 28 6 138 20 6 138 52 30 136 52 6 136 20 30 0 242 48 246 138 28 22 138 23 48 218 136 23 71 73 117 222 49 219 137 216 254 192 205 128 144 144 232 157 255 255 255 65 65 65 65
Update
There’s a larger solution on Pastebin. However, Can You Crack It looks to be a puzzle in many pieces.
Update 2
The URL www.canyoucrackit.co.uk/soyoudidit.asp does something interesting. It’s being spread as the solution. Or it could be a honeytrap – you know if you’re paranoid.
Update 3
This has been a lovely puzzle – with plenty of ‘false solutions’ and dead ends. However, it has been solved. One of the best walkthroughs is by 17-year-old Davee at Lolhax.
Roll for insight. What does your success tell you about this article?
