Lesson 12 - The End-Game

This is an ongoing series to dissect the PhreakNIC v3.0 code, which can be
seen at http://www.phreaknic.org/phreaknic.txt.
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Okay, everyone else that didn't want to go spelunking on their own, we've got
the tourist trail lights and railings up now.  Step along this way please . . .

First stop:  http://www.phreaknic.org/sekriter.html

The picture that we want is the top one, code01.bmp.  Depending on your
computer/connection, this picture *may* be corrupt.  If you're seeing it
broken into two halves, with the top half a different color than the bottom
one, you've got a corrupted version, so don't use it.  Instead, grab the
pix.zip file on the page and use the code01.bmp file in there.

Load code01.bmp into your steganography decryption software.  If you don't
have that yet, you can download some from here:
  http://members.aol.com/nova1337/s-tools4.zip

We still need a password...  What is it?  Well, let's look at the clues again:

  - The files that are mentioned in the source code of the page, what are they about?
  - In the top picture, what is the "Disappearing Cryptography" book about?
  - What *type* of cryptography is being used to hide this message?
  - And, in the bottom picture, what does "Geography Ants" anagram to?

They all have the same answer:  "Steganography."

So, once you've got code01.bmp loaded into s-tools, right-click on the
picture to get the "reveal" menu.  Then type in these options:

   Password: steganography   (case-sensitive)
   Encryption: Triple DES

Ah, THERE's the PGP key that we've been looking for.

Now where'd we put that PGP message . . .

Open the rotated PGP message from the phreaknic.txt file, and follow the
instructions inside to announce your arrival at the center of the Code! (and
then step this way to the gift shop and buy lots o' T-shirts, hmm?)  ;)
 

Tomorrow, the final wrap-up:
  - The full walkthrough, going step-by-step from beginning to end of the PhreakNIC Code
  - A final haiku
  - The credits (for those movie-buffs in the house that will actually sit
through them, rather than making a mad dash for the parking lot).

As the Oracle said: "Almost done!"

Elonka  :)
http://members.aol.com/nova1337/tutorial.htm
AIM: Elonka

"I'm a gamer.  It's what I am.  It's what I do."