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fulmerspot
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Joined: July 8th, 2009, 12:44 pm

GCHQ Christmas Challenge

December 10th, 2015, 8:12 am

GCHQ Christmas ChallengeIf you solve it you don't have to send in the answer - they'll know!Herr KartoffelKopf
 
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Traden4Alpha
Posts: 3300
Joined: September 20th, 2002, 8:30 pm

GCHQ Christmas Challenge

December 10th, 2015, 12:11 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: fulmerspotGCHQ Christmas ChallengeIf you solve it you don't have to send in the answer - they'll know!Herr KartoffelKopfLOL! They seem to have created a DDOS of their own website by encoding what seems to be a tiny 20x20 array of numbers into a massive 3545 x 3811 pixel image.
Last edited by Traden4Alpha on December 9th, 2015, 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
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fulmerspot
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Joined: July 8th, 2009, 12:44 pm

GCHQ Christmas Challenge

December 10th, 2015, 12:52 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: Traden4AlphaQuoteOriginally posted by: fulmerspotGCHQ Christmas ChallengeIf you solve it you don't have to send in the answer - they'll know!Herr KartoffelKopfLOL! They seem to have created a DDOS of their own website by encoding what seem to be a tiny 20x20 array of numbers into a massive 3545 x 3811 pixel image.Yes - and they've tied up every subversive enemy of the state Quant until mid January working on it - brilliant!Herr KartoffelKopf
 
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Paul
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Joined: July 20th, 2001, 3:28 pm

GCHQ Christmas Challenge

December 10th, 2015, 1:00 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: fulmerspot Yes - and they've tied up every subversive enemy of the state Quant until mid January working on it - brilliant!And Guardian readers according to the news, that's no bad thing!P
 
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Traden4Alpha
Posts: 3300
Joined: September 20th, 2002, 8:30 pm

GCHQ Christmas Challenge

December 10th, 2015, 1:03 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: fulmerspotQuoteOriginally posted by: Traden4AlphaQuoteOriginally posted by: fulmerspotGCHQ Christmas ChallengeIf you solve it you don't have to send in the answer - they'll know!Herr KartoffelKopfLOL! They seem to have created a DDOS of their own website by encoding what seems to be a tiny 20x20 array of numbers into a massive 3545 x 3811 pixel image.Yes - and they've tied up every subversive enemy of the state Quant until mid January working on it - brilliant!Herr KartoffelKopfIndeed! The grid probably decodes into a zero-day exploit of the code-breaker's computer.
 
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fulmerspot
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Posts: 80
Joined: July 8th, 2009, 12:44 pm

GCHQ Christmas Challenge

December 10th, 2015, 1:04 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: Traden4AlphaQuoteOriginally posted by: fulmerspotQuoteOriginally posted by: Traden4AlphaQuoteOriginally posted by: fulmerspotGCHQ Christmas ChallengeIf you solve it you don't have to send in the answer - they'll know!Herr KartoffelKopfLOL! They seem to have created a DDOS of their own website by encoding what seems to be a tiny 20x20 array of numbers into a massive 3545 x 3811 pixel image.Yes - and they've tied up every subversive enemy of the state Quant until mid January working on it - brilliant!Herr KartoffelKopfIndeed! The grid probably decodes into a zero-day exploit of the code-breaker's computer.I confess I have solved it - but I believe it opens the gate to a more tricky problem - one of a series.Herr KartoffelKopf
 
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Traden4Alpha
Posts: 3300
Joined: September 20th, 2002, 8:30 pm

GCHQ Christmas Challenge

December 10th, 2015, 1:15 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: fulmerspotQuoteOriginally posted by: Traden4AlphaQuoteOriginally posted by: fulmerspotQuoteOriginally posted by: Traden4AlphaQuoteOriginally posted by: fulmerspotGCHQ Christmas ChallengeIf you solve it you don't have to send in the answer - they'll know!Herr KartoffelKopfLOL! They seem to have created a DDOS of their own website by encoding what seems to be a tiny 20x20 array of numbers into a massive 3545 x 3811 pixel image.Yes - and they've tied up every subversive enemy of the state Quant until mid January working on it - brilliant!Herr KartoffelKopfIndeed! The grid probably decodes into a zero-day exploit of the code-breaker's computer.I confess I have solved it - but I believe it opens the gate to a more tricky problem - one of a series.Herr KartoffelKopfWe hope this is not the last message that we hear from you!
 
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Traden4Alpha
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Joined: September 20th, 2002, 8:30 pm

GCHQ Christmas Challenge

December 12th, 2015, 6:10 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: outrunDon't print the puzzle! I tried it just now, but now my printer is dead!LOL! It's got a zero-day exploit for printers! (I wonder if it is a variant of the anti-counterfeiting pattern printed on paper money that causes color copiers to lock-up? see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation)
 
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Traden4Alpha
Posts: 3300
Joined: September 20th, 2002, 8:30 pm

GCHQ Christmas Challenge

December 12th, 2015, 9:30 pm

QuoteOriginally posted by: outrunQuoteOriginally posted by: Traden4AlphaQuoteOriginally posted by: outrunDon't print the puzzle! I tried it just now, but now my printer is dead!LOL! It's got a zero-day exploit for printers! (I wonder if it is a variant of the anti-counterfeiting pattern printed on paper money that causes color copiers to lock-up? see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURion_constellation)Somethings wrong with that wikipedia page. I alway print Wikipedia pages I want to read to compensate for all those vegitarians, but I can't print it! Is it illegal to print this page?LOL!If I ever post my photos online, I'm using that pattern in my photos as a watermark/signature.
 
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katastrofa
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Location: Alpha Centauri

GCHQ Christmas Challenge

December 18th, 2015, 12:42 pm

I've read the numbers from the picture with OCR and implemented an incredibly smart algorithm to calculate the matrix much faster than with the brute force method (to be confirmed), launched it... then looked at the puzzle and solved it by hand in 5 minutes :-)The test to which it leads is quite amusing. There are a few parts, but I have to charge my phone before I can proceed... I'll let you know what's at the end (if I won't forget about it in the Xmas amok). No spoilers for now not to spoil your fun.
Last edited by katastrofa on December 17th, 2015, 11:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.