Can You Crack It?

As some of you may be aware – there’s a CanYouCrackIt test setup in the UK.

The website in question is: http://www.canyoucrackit.co.uk

So; ‘What is this site’? – you ask. And ‘what does it mean’?

Well it would seem the UK Gov are looking for Hackers and InfoSec people with Talent. If you were one of the skilled ‘Successful participants’ to be able to Crack the 2 blocks of 144 chars – totalling 288 character code on their website  - You will then be sent to another page with information leading to a job application as a Cyber Security Specialist.

Here is the verification page link once you have successfully cracked the code or see link below: http://www.canyoucrackit.co.uk/soyoudidit.asp

It basically states: Quoted from their website.

So you did it. Well done! Now this is where it gets interesting. Could you use your skills and ingenuity to combat terrorism and cyber threats? As one of our experts, you’ll help protect our nation’s security and the lives of thousands. Every day will bring new challenges, new solutions to find – and new ways to prove that you’re one of the best.

Next you click a linked button which takes you to another page here find out more the job in question is [CYBER/SEC/SPEC/11 PHASE 2] Closing date for applications is 12 December 2011
VACANCY DESCRIPTION Cyber Security Specialist – GC10 or Senior Cyber Security Specialist – GC9

Tr0niKs Screen Capture – Pr00f of Cracked Submission here

See: also Image made smaller below.

I did it! Tr0niK's Screen Capture of Crack Completion to next step.

You might wish to see me working on this here:

Tr0niK Cracking the Code - Plus showing you half of my Submit Answer

Further… I was pretty pleased with my little accomplishment it was a little frustrating at first, because I could see in a heart beat that the code seen above was set as an Image; which looked like HEX. It would have been so much easier created in plain text! – My guess is; they didn’t want it to be easy

No doubt they where wishing to see how creative people would end up being with the code provided. So; I set out to decode/crack this HEX. Which you’ll see isn’t just a standard string of HEX to get the answer you need when decoding.

All I can say to those that wish to attempt this feat is: First tip – Yes; it is HEX as you can plainly see numbers 0 – 9 and letters from A – F when you arrive at the first page here

ProTip: Hexadecimal

For those that don’t understand Hexadecimal – it’s for Computer’s to store text as numbers. Usually, You use a decimal number system to represent numbers. However, the ASCII numbers of characters are often stored as hexadecimal number that contains numbers and letters A through to F. and numbers 0 through to 9.

So now you have that part worked out, then know that the order of the HEX isn’t what it seams.

And my next Tip for those wishing to Crack this code – I have given you half a clue in my Screen capture above. I have purposely added a text pad in the Capture for you to see me working on this. The answer is 37 chars in total and thats all your getting!!!! haha.

The rest is up to you….

ENJOY!

Peace Tr0niK