6 ms·

Mossad 2018 challenge

25 points by harel 9y ago

audiometry 9y ago
Is this supposed to be some penetration/decryption challenge? If I get in, I get a job?
- sourcesmith 9y ago
  The page description is 'Mossad 2018 challenge countdown'...
shiftoutbox 9y ago
He look it’s brain fuck !
sillysaurus3 9y ago
Recall when the Mossad assassinated someone in a Dubai hotel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d9KDysPbZ0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d9KDysPbZ0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Mahmoud_Al-Mabhouh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Mahmoud_Al-Ma... The only reason I point this out is because many (most?) techies have a natural aversion to helping out this sort of thing. It's totally fine if you don't. But it's easy to forget the end result.
- ronreiter 9y ago
  He is a murderer and a terrorist. If you murder people because they are Israeli and you think you can get away with it, think again.
  - sillysaurus3 9y ago
    I didn't say it was an unjust assassination. Only that this is the business they're in.
  - Waterluvian 9y ago
    This is the attitude that makes it hard for me to take Israel seriously. Like they have an inherent right to go after whoever wherever. It feels like a CIA / KGB learned trait. I think I'm most frustrated by the notion of other nations going to work in my country. You do you. But not in my yard, eh.
    - briandear 9y ago
      Ironically, that’s what makes it hard for me to take Hamas seriously — they feel like they can blow up a bus and yet if Israel responds, the “international” community has a conniption fit. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_Road_bus_bombings https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_Road_bus_bombings
      - Waterluvian 9y ago
        I'm just one opinion but mine is that neither behaviour is better than the other.
    - placebo 9y ago
      I'm curious, how do you interpret the above as the "right to go after whoever wherever?"
      - Waterluvian 9y ago
        The parent comment disappeared so I cannot answer you without recalling from memory what was said. That's unfair because I don't have confidence in my memory.
  - fwdpropaganda 9y ago
    I'm not saying you don't have a point, morally speaking. But legally speaking do you agree that's probably not legal? And if so, then would you say it's OK to bypass the law with it's convenient for you?
- briandear 9y ago
  They killed the cofounder of the military wing of Hamas. Hardly an innocent. Making a statement like “assasinated a person in a hotel” makes it sound like they killed some tourist rather than a man responsible for countless violence. If they assasinated Osama Bin Laden, would that be ok? As a “techie,” I would be proud to have helped take out someone like Bin Laden but I would of course, not be happy if that tech were used to intentionally kill innocent people. Ironically, the man killed had no problem himself directing the deaths of innocent civilians. It’s the difference between killing a wolf attacking kids on a playground versus shooting a family dog in someone’s living room. The two situations aren’t morally equivalent at all. The end result of the Hamas assassination was that a violent and dangerous person who led the killing of countless civilians is dead. So yes, let’s not forget the end result — a wolf was shot before he could attack again. I am not going to comment on intelligence services in general, but the example you provide is ironically, a counter argument for the point you seem to be attempting. You seem to be suggesting that techies generally would want to work to preserve life rather than take it and, with the Dubai operation, that’s exactly what happened: lives were saved by taking down a dangerous man with a history of leading the killing of innocent people.
  - burbuk 9y ago
    Leibowitz was correct, wolves don't shoot wolves, they use them as fig leaves. Fuck them, and fuck you.
artie_effim 9y ago
Isn't that brainf*ck?
- bayindirh 9y ago
  I'm thinking the same thing...
- Double_a_92 9y ago
  So the first task tests your endurance and patience... Here's the beginning of the Left blue block, if anyone wants to continue: >+-++<>-+--><[+-[ ]+-]<+--+>[+--+]< [+>+<-]><----[-->
- lordnacho 9y ago
  Exactly what I thought, too. I guess you find an interpreter and see what happens.
- anvandare 9y ago
  Yes. The highlighted areas are: >+-++<>-+--><[+-[ ]+-]<+--+>[+--+]< [+>+<-]><----[--> +++<]>--.-------- -.+++.[++>---<]>+ +.-[----->++<]>-. +[->+++<]>+.+++++ ++++++.---------- --.----[->+++<]>+ .-[-->+++++<]>--- .------.[--->+<]> ++.[-]>+-++<>-+-- ><[+-[]+-]<+--+>[ +--+]<[+>+<-]><>+ -++<>-+--><[+-[]+ -]<+--+>[+--+]<[] => xor-with-key +++++++++++[>++++ +++++++<-]>+[<+>- ]-[>+<-------]>-- -[<+>-][<+>-]>++> +[>++[-<++++++>]< <]>[<+>-]>+>++[++ >++[-<+++++>]<<]> [<+>-]>+>+[>++++[ -<++++>]<<]>[<+>- ]++++++++[>++++++ +++++<-]>+[<+>-]+ ++>>+>+[->+++[-<+ ++++>]<<]>[<+>-]+ +++++++[>++++++++ <-]>+[<+>-]+++>++ ++++>+>+-++<>-+-- => z.\SUY.ZA... (hex values of the key: 7A B3 5C 53 55 59 03 5A 41 03 06 01) xor-ing the .png with the key gives a data blob, so it's either an executable (which I'm not going to run) or I did something wrong.
  - stef25 9y ago
    Good effort!
  - jerry40 9y ago
    z.\SUY.ZA... and Israel-is-70 (text from the picture) have the same length. Coincidence?
aerodog 9y ago
Knowing what we know about how shameless their government is about killing unarmed civilians, why on earth would any ethical human being support them? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/israeli-forces-kill-3-palestinians-land-day-protests-180330100034136.html https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/israeli-forces-kill-3...
- IMTDb 9y ago
  Using aljazeera a source of "news" for anything Israel is doing is a dubious as linking to bertibart as a reliable insider in the US democratic party.
  - devilmoon 9y ago
    You don't really need aljazeera to know that Israel isn't such a nice country when it comes to mowing down human lives because their god told them that's their promised land
    - Mediterraneo10 9y ago
      > because their god told them that's their promised land A substantial portion of the earliest Zionist settlers were atheists and a substantial portion of hawkish Israelis today are. The insistence on founding and maintaining a Jewish state in Israel is not overall theologically motivated.
      - devilmoon 9y ago
        Oh you're right, it's only a colonialist and racist motivation, god doesn't come into play
        beaconstudios 9y ago
        colonialist, I can understand as Israel was carved out of the British Mandate, but I don't see the racism aspect?
    - 9y ago
devilmoon 9y ago
If someone wants to take a stab at it with OCR, these are the two highlighted portions of brainfuck https://imgur.com/a/6r48NEN https://imgur.com/a/6r48NEN
bernarpa 9y ago
Spoiler: ... as it was said, the first brainfuck program prints xor-with-key. The second program doesn't output anything but it sets the memory "array" with 12 non-zero values. By XORing these values with the phrase present in the image (12 characters too) you get "35.205.32.11" which can be an IP (something in Google's ranges), geographical coordinates (interpreted as x,y they point somewhere in Israel, in fact) or I don't know whatever else.
- fotcorn 9y ago
  The IP is only accessible from inside Isreal, use a proxy from there and the IP works.
- cfrs 9y ago
  This link leads to page with the first challenge: "Your help is needed once again to solve an urgent matter. Our digital forensics division is trying to track the source of a phishing attack on one of our government officials..."
  - bernarpa 9y ago
    HaHaha! (cit.)
    - markyply 9y ago
      Yeah that's HEX decoded but I don't think it has anything to do with the solution. I'm not sure though.
      - anonymmouse 9y ago
        I think it's more a joke from the fake 'anonymous' hacker in context to the tech-news. After some testing I think the solution could be within this so called 'pass-through' attack which is described in the tech-news. There is an 'admin' account, with whom I think you can access the /administration site. For now I think the solution could be with modifying cookies, maybe the session cookie (after you create an account and log in) to get access to the admin account
3ds 9y ago
>+-++<>-+--><[+-[ ]+-]<+--+>[+--+]< [+>+<-]><----[--> +++<]>--.-------- -.+++.[++>---<]>+ +.-[----->++<]>-. +[->+++<]>+.+++++ ++++++.---------- --.----[->+++<]>+ .-[-->+++++<]>--- .------.[--->+<]> ++.[-]>+-++<>-+-- ><[+-[]+-]<+--+>[ +--+]<[+>+<-]><>+ -++<>-+--><[+-[]+ -]<+--+>[+--+]<[] +++++++++++[>++++ +++++++<-]>+[<+>- ]-[>+<-------]>-- -[<+>-][<+>-]>++> +[>++[-<++++++>]< <]>[<+>-]>+>++[++ >++[-<+++++>]<<]> [<+>-]>+>+[>++++[ -<++++>]<<]>[<+>- ]++++++++[>++++++ +++++<-]>+[<+>-]+ ++>>+>+[->+++[-<+ ++++>]<<]>[<+>-]+ +++++++[>++++++++ <-]>+[<+>-]+++>++ ++++>+>+-++<>-+--
harel 9y ago
Fellas, please, keep the politics out of it. You got Facebook for that... :)
- bhouston 9y ago
  You are incorrect, we are allowed to discuss politics on hacker news and have opinions on politics, especially when it intersects technology. It is done all the time here on hacker news.
  - harel 9y ago
    From the guidelines: Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. This story was posted as one of technical interest. The political side effects are not of technical interest.
    - bhouston 9y ago
      > Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. You are quoting a guideline about what stories should be posted to Hacker News, and using that in your argument that we can not discuss political aspects of a story. That is not the case. > The political side effects are not of technical interest. This is your opinion, which you are trying to pretend is a rule here on hacker news.
      - harel 9y ago
        Not trying to pretend any rules. Just convention I've seen here over the years with some reference in the guidelines. If you feel you need to discuss politics, by all means - go crazy.
hungerstrike 9y ago
Why would anyone who is aware of what's going on in the world today want to work for military/intelligence murderers? Deception is the main weapon for these scumbags and that very weapon is regularly used to fleece the rest of the population. Unless you're going to work from the inside to expose their massive amounts of bullshit, I find it deplorable. Honestly, I think you'd have to be either brain-washed by the cult-like repetition of nationalism and military-hero worship or just a real evil asshole to dedicate your life to helping these people.
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
YuvalMesh 9y ago
Has anyone gotten farther than registration? I'm stuck in the 35.205.32.11 page and I don't know how to advance from there. Any help anyone?
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
mor123 9y ago
What to after I enter to the blog I don't get it from yesterday

25 points by harel 9y ago

audiometry 9y ago

Is this supposed to be some penetration/decryption challenge? If I get in, I get a job?

sourcesmith 9y ago
The page description is 'Mossad 2018 challenge countdown'...

shiftoutbox 9y ago

He look it’s brain fuck !

sillysaurus3 9y ago

Recall when the Mossad assassinated someone in a Dubai hotel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d9KDysPbZ0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d9KDysPbZ0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Mahmoud_Al-Mabhouh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Mahmoud_Al-Ma... The only reason I point this out is because many (most?) techies have a natural aversion to helping out this sort of thing. It's totally fine if you don't. But it's easy to forget the end result.

ronreiter 9y ago
He is a murderer and a terrorist. If you murder people because they are Israeli and you think you can get away with it, think again.
- sillysaurus3 9y ago
  I didn't say it was an unjust assassination. Only that this is the business they're in.
- Waterluvian 9y ago
  This is the attitude that makes it hard for me to take Israel seriously. Like they have an inherent right to go after whoever wherever. It feels like a CIA / KGB learned trait. I think I'm most frustrated by the notion of other nations going to work in my country. You do you. But not in my yard, eh.
  - briandear 9y ago
    Ironically, that’s what makes it hard for me to take Hamas seriously — they feel like they can blow up a bus and yet if Israel responds, the “international” community has a conniption fit. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_Road_bus_bombings https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaffa_Road_bus_bombings
    - Waterluvian 9y ago
      I'm just one opinion but mine is that neither behaviour is better than the other.
  - placebo 9y ago
    I'm curious, how do you interpret the above as the "right to go after whoever wherever?"
    - Waterluvian 9y ago
      The parent comment disappeared so I cannot answer you without recalling from memory what was said. That's unfair because I don't have confidence in my memory.
- fwdpropaganda 9y ago
  I'm not saying you don't have a point, morally speaking. But legally speaking do you agree that's probably not legal? And if so, then would you say it's OK to bypass the law with it's convenient for you?
briandear 9y ago
They killed the cofounder of the military wing of Hamas. Hardly an innocent. Making a statement like “assasinated a person in a hotel” makes it sound like they killed some tourist rather than a man responsible for countless violence. If they assasinated Osama Bin Laden, would that be ok? As a “techie,” I would be proud to have helped take out someone like Bin Laden but I would of course, not be happy if that tech were used to intentionally kill innocent people. Ironically, the man killed had no problem himself directing the deaths of innocent civilians. It’s the difference between killing a wolf attacking kids on a playground versus shooting a family dog in someone’s living room. The two situations aren’t morally equivalent at all. The end result of the Hamas assassination was that a violent and dangerous person who led the killing of countless civilians is dead. So yes, let’s not forget the end result — a wolf was shot before he could attack again. I am not going to comment on intelligence services in general, but the example you provide is ironically, a counter argument for the point you seem to be attempting. You seem to be suggesting that techies generally would want to work to preserve life rather than take it and, with the Dubai operation, that’s exactly what happened: lives were saved by taking down a dangerous man with a history of leading the killing of innocent people.
- burbuk 9y ago
  Leibowitz was correct, wolves don't shoot wolves, they use them as fig leaves. Fuck them, and fuck you.

artie_effim 9y ago

Isn't that brainf*ck?

bayindirh 9y ago
I'm thinking the same thing...
Double_a_92 9y ago
So the first task tests your endurance and patience... Here's the beginning of the Left blue block, if anyone wants to continue: >+-++<>-+--><[+-[ ]+-]<+--+>[+--+]< [+>+<-]><----[-->
lordnacho 9y ago
Exactly what I thought, too. I guess you find an interpreter and see what happens.
anvandare 9y ago
Yes. The highlighted areas are: >+-++<>-+--><[+-[ ]+-]<+--+>[+--+]< [+>+<-]><----[--> +++<]>--.-------- -.+++.[++>---<]>+ +.-[----->++<]>-. +[->+++<]>+.+++++ ++++++.---------- --.----[->+++<]>+ .-[-->+++++<]>--- .------.[--->+<]> ++.[-]>+-++<>-+-- ><[+-[]+-]<+--+>[ +--+]<[+>+<-]><>+ -++<>-+--><[+-[]+ -]<+--+>[+--+]<[] => xor-with-key +++++++++++[>++++ +++++++<-]>+[<+>- ]-[>+<-------]>-- -[<+>-][<+>-]>++> +[>++[-<++++++>]< <]>[<+>-]>+>++[++ >++[-<+++++>]<<]> [<+>-]>+>+[>++++[ -<++++>]<<]>[<+>- ]++++++++[>++++++ +++++<-]>+[<+>-]+ ++>>+>+[->+++[-<+ ++++>]<<]>[<+>-]+ +++++++[>++++++++ <-]>+[<+>-]+++>++ ++++>+>+-++<>-+-- => z.\SUY.ZA... (hex values of the key: 7A B3 5C 53 55 59 03 5A 41 03 06 01) xor-ing the .png with the key gives a data blob, so it's either an executable (which I'm not going to run) or I did something wrong.
- stef25 9y ago
  Good effort!
- jerry40 9y ago
  z.\SUY.ZA... and Israel-is-70 (text from the picture) have the same length. Coincidence?

aerodog 9y ago

Knowing what we know about how shameless their government is about killing unarmed civilians, why on earth would any ethical human being support them? https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/israeli-forces-kill-3-palestinians-land-day-protests-180330100034136.html https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/israeli-forces-kill-3...

IMTDb 9y ago
Using aljazeera a source of "news" for anything Israel is doing is a dubious as linking to bertibart as a reliable insider in the US democratic party.
- devilmoon 9y ago
  You don't really need aljazeera to know that Israel isn't such a nice country when it comes to mowing down human lives because their god told them that's their promised land
  - Mediterraneo10 9y ago
    > because their god told them that's their promised land A substantial portion of the earliest Zionist settlers were atheists and a substantial portion of hawkish Israelis today are. The insistence on founding and maintaining a Jewish state in Israel is not overall theologically motivated.
    - devilmoon 9y ago
      Oh you're right, it's only a colonialist and racist motivation, god doesn't come into play
      - beaconstudios 9y ago
        colonialist, I can understand as Israel was carved out of the British Mandate, but I don't see the racism aspect?
  - 9y ago

devilmoon 9y ago

If someone wants to take a stab at it with OCR, these are the two highlighted portions of brainfuck https://imgur.com/a/6r48NEN https://imgur.com/a/6r48NEN

bernarpa 9y ago

Spoiler: ... as it was said, the first brainfuck program prints xor-with-key. The second program doesn't output anything but it sets the memory "array" with 12 non-zero values. By XORing these values with the phrase present in the image (12 characters too) you get "35.205.32.11" which can be an IP (something in Google's ranges), geographical coordinates (interpreted as x,y they point somewhere in Israel, in fact) or I don't know whatever else.

fotcorn 9y ago
The IP is only accessible from inside Isreal, use a proxy from there and the IP works.
cfrs 9y ago
This link leads to page with the first challenge: "Your help is needed once again to solve an urgent matter. Our digital forensics division is trying to track the source of a phishing attack on one of our government officials..."
- bernarpa 9y ago
  HaHaha! (cit.)
  - markyply 9y ago
    Yeah that's HEX decoded but I don't think it has anything to do with the solution. I'm not sure though.
    - anonymmouse 9y ago
      I think it's more a joke from the fake 'anonymous' hacker in context to the tech-news. After some testing I think the solution could be within this so called 'pass-through' attack which is described in the tech-news. There is an 'admin' account, with whom I think you can access the /administration site. For now I think the solution could be with modifying cookies, maybe the session cookie (after you create an account and log in) to get access to the admin account

3ds 9y ago

>+-++<>-+--><[+-[ ]+-]<+--+>[+--+]< [+>+<-]><----[--> +++<]>--.-------- -.+++.[++>---<]>+ +.-[----->++<]>-. +[->+++<]>+.+++++ ++++++.---------- --.----[->+++<]>+ .-[-->+++++<]>--- .------.[--->+<]> ++.[-]>+-++<>-+-- ><[+-[]+-]<+--+>[ +--+]<[+>+<-]><>+ -++<>-+--><[+-[]+ -]<+--+>[+--+]<[] +++++++++++[>++++ +++++++<-]>+[<+>- ]-[>+<-------]>-- -[<+>-][<+>-]>++> +[>++[-<++++++>]< <]>[<+>-]>+>++[++ >++[-<+++++>]<<]> [<+>-]>+>+[>++++[ -<++++>]<<]>[<+>- ]++++++++[>++++++ +++++<-]>+[<+>-]+ ++>>+>+[->+++[-<+ ++++>]<<]>[<+>-]+ +++++++[>++++++++ <-]>+[<+>-]+++>++ ++++>+>+-++<>-+--

harel 9y ago

Fellas, please, keep the politics out of it. You got Facebook for that... :)

bhouston 9y ago
You are incorrect, we are allowed to discuss politics on hacker news and have opinions on politics, especially when it intersects technology. It is done all the time here on hacker news.
- harel 9y ago
  From the guidelines: Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. This story was posted as one of technical interest. The political side effects are not of technical interest.
  - bhouston 9y ago
    > Off-Topic: Most stories about politics, or crime, or sports, unless they're evidence of some interesting new phenomenon. You are quoting a guideline about what stories should be posted to Hacker News, and using that in your argument that we can not discuss political aspects of a story. That is not the case. > The political side effects are not of technical interest. This is your opinion, which you are trying to pretend is a rule here on hacker news.
    - harel 9y ago
      Not trying to pretend any rules. Just convention I've seen here over the years with some reference in the guidelines. If you feel you need to discuss politics, by all means - go crazy.

hungerstrike 9y ago

Why would anyone who is aware of what's going on in the world today want to work for military/intelligence murderers? Deception is the main weapon for these scumbags and that very weapon is regularly used to fleece the rest of the population. Unless you're going to work from the inside to expose their massive amounts of bullshit, I find it deplorable. Honestly, I think you'd have to be either brain-washed by the cult-like repetition of nationalism and military-hero worship or just a real evil asshole to dedicate your life to helping these people.

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

YuvalMesh 9y ago

Has anyone gotten farther than registration? I'm stuck in the 35.205.32.11 page and I don't know how to advance from there. Any help anyone?

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

mor123 9y ago

What to after I enter to the blog I don't get it from yesterday