Lesson 5 - The Columns and the CIA

This is an ongoing series to dissect the PhreakNIC v3.0 code, which can be
seen at http://www.phreaknic.org/phreaknic.txt.
---------------------------

Wow, all these hints I've been giving, and no one besides me has solved the
PhreakNIC v3.0 Code yet.  But I know a bunch of you are reading these, and
the tour bus still seems to be pretty crowded ("Hey!  You two in the back!
Stop that!") so, we'll continue.  Everyone else that was shopping in the
bazaar, back on the bus!  Time to head in deeper . . .

Looking at the poem, if we strip out all those () [] marks (we'll get to
those again later), this is what we're left with:

The earnest secrets shone.
One hears satire.
Ahem - really rag Satan.
ATM of Hell.
Evil nose energy.
O, the CIA net lunacy.
Obey luser cam.
Phone far-fetched root text.
A data-link grumbles on the cloud.
 

As some of you have noticed, there are many anagrams in there.

In fact, if we look for the word "anagrams" in the above poem, we can find
it, in the "Ahem - really rag Satan" line, which anagrams to "They are all
anagrams."

So, here're a few of them unscrambled:

The earnest secrets shone.
One hears satire.
Ahem - really rag Satan.            -->  They are all anagrams.
ATM of Hell.                        -->  All of them.
Evil nose energy.                   -->  Every single one.
O, the CIA net lunacy.              -->  They contain a clue.
Obey luser cam.
Phone far-fetched root text.
A data-link grumbles on the cloud.
 

Happy solving.  ;)
 
 

Now, getting back to those columns that were inside the UUdecoded message
(btw, if you're not looking at this in a mono-space font such as Courier,
please do so, as it will make this *much* easier to read):
 

Pb  e h.myx Mxxxx h.//.       r.f&  tgapx oxxxx tncgi
e oga tottx rxxxx toren       tNli  pvi.x exxxx pdynf
tolvt :/ohx  xxxx :apeo       ywoer /cntx ixxxx /ktr/
  w y /i/mx nxxxx /.oaK       ghit: watlx fxxxx we/lr
oinhx w/oxx oxxxx wdc.y       otgix wiuxx  xxxx wurcp
d  sx .nrxx axxxx ./yrt        tU x cf/xx txxxx uopyo
jhRox iokxx :xxxx nrtps       oeLnx arrxx xxxxx dgot/
 

Did you find the URL?  It's right there, in the last two lines.  See the
capital "U", "R", and "L"?  What do those 3 letters have in common?  They're
all in the center of a 5-character block.  Think that's coincidence?  It's
not.

Let's format these columns a different way.  We're going to add in some
carriage returns down that center white-space column:

Pb  e h.myx Mxxxx h.//.
r.f&  tgapx oxxxx tncgi
e oga tottx rxxxx toren
tNli  pvi.x exxxx pdynf
tolvt :/ohx  xxxx :apeo
ywoer /cntx ixxxx /ktr/
  w y /i/mx nxxxx /.oaK
ghit: watlx fxxxx we/lr
oinhx w/oxx oxxxx wdc.y
otgix wiuxx  xxxx wurcp
d  sx .nrxx axxxx ./yrt
 tU x cf/xx txxxx uopyo
jhRox iokxx :xxxx nrtps
oeLnx arrxx xxxxx dgot/
 

Now find that URL again.  See it?  It reads vertically now.  Next, look at
the "P" in the upper lefthand corner, and read straight down that lefthand
column: "P r e t t y  g o o d "

Ahhhhhhhh.  I see the lights going on over people's heads.

So from the top lefthand corner, and reading down:

-----------------------------
Pretty good job. Now hit the following URL &give this one a try:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/information/tour/krypt.html

More info at:
http://www.und.nodak.edu/org/crypto/crypto/general.crypt.info/Kryptos/
----------------------------

Oooh, the PhreakNIC Code is pointing us at the government's CIA website?
Neato.

So what are you waiting for?  Go check it out.
 

Next installment:  A review of what we've solved so far, and, yes, *another*
look at the poem.
 

Elonka  :)
http://members.aol.com/elonka
AIM: Elonka
 

"An enemy can only control your message if they can find it."  - Peter Wayner