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2022 NSA Codebreaker Challenge
- arjvik 4y agoHow have previous challenges worked? Are they like puzzle hunts where you don't know what you're looking for? Or are you only responsible for breaking cryptographic codes?
- NickRandom 4y agoI think https://nsa-codebreaker.org/resources https://nsa-codebreaker.org/resources (about half-way down, in the "Technical Resources" section) might answer that?
- 72736379 4y agoTake a look at the tasks from last year: https://github.com/luker983/nsa-codebreaker-2021 https://github.com/luker983/nsa-codebreaker-2021
- hatware 4y agoI glanced at last year's, it looks like a pretty practical scavenger hunt with multiple steps and increasing difficulty. Pretty cool reading what goes into an exploit that would give someone a shell.
- gpcr1949 4y ago> Sorry, that email domain is not recognized. -- An email address from a recognized U.S. school or university is required. If your school's domain is not recognized, please request it to be allowed by clicking HERE edit: to add some comment: Too bad only this group can participate. Just wanted to have look what type of puzzles they are and recreationally have a stab at them.
- nonrandomstring 4y agoThat's the first part of the test. If you can't easily break into a university IT system what sort of hacker are you? :)
- execveat 4y agoIt's just a CTF focusing on forensics and reverse engineering. Here are the writeups from the 2021 challenge: https://github.com/luker983/nsa-codebreaker-2021 https://github.com/luker983/nsa-codebreaker-2021
- c7DJTLrn 4y agoYou're not who they're looking for. They want young (and therefore cheap to employ), bright eyed kids who haven't yet developed a sense of ethics or learned of the atrocious things the NSA gets up to.
- halJordan 4y agoGen Nakasone: "Cybersecurity is a critical priority for the nation." You: You're disgusting and atrocious! Seems like you're the one who has a problem.
- thrwawy74 4y agoEverything has innocent potential if you don't look at what has been done.
- fitch321 4y agoMade me want to watch the will hunting monologue again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJHvSp9AKYg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJHvSp9AKYg
- registeredcorn 4y agogobvermen bad :(
- cwillu 4y agoEntirely unrelated, but I can never take the word “gubernatorial” seriously.
- anotheruser092 4y agoGreat film, but right after that, Sean (Robin Williams's character) says: "It's not about the job. I don't care if you work for the government. But you can do anything you want, you are bound by nothing. What are you passionate about. What do you want? I mean there are guys who work their entire lives laying brick so that their kids have a chance at the opportunities you have here." So, instead of praising Will, Sean questions why Will seems determined to keep drifting while seeming clever. I always thought the implication was that it's better to define yourself as "for" something than "against" something, even if you sound smart in a wicked way by doing so.
- sshd 4y ago
- hatware 4y agoBig fellow kids vibes
- cgb223 4y agoI wish they would expand the participation to anyone who’s interested in code breaking or working at the NSA. I’d love to take a crack at it myself. Also, some of the best security researchers I know never went to college. So people with non-traditional academic backgrounds are excluded from this which is a bummer
- timmattison 4y agoThe registration page just asks for an email address and a password. How are these people blocked from participating?
- timmattison 4y agoAh, other comments say that domain names are restricted. Missed that!
- xedrac 4y agoApparently, that's the first challenge you must overcome to cracking the code...
- can16358p 4y ago403 Forbidden? Is this the challenge or am I missing something?
- wasyl 4y agoI believe the site is not accessible from outside of the US — I also see 403 Forbidden, but when connecting with US VPN I see no error
- BrandoElFollito 4y agoWorks fine from France
- edf13 4y agoI can view from here in the UK… perhaps specific IP geo ranges blocked?
- kaszanka 4y agoIt's not accessible (403) from Poland.
- waffleiron 4y agoAccessible in Germany, strange.
- scrlk 4y agoFive Eyes only? Just need an Australian, Canadian and New Zealander to check.
- pid_0 4y agoNo one should help the nsa or participate in anything they do.
- no_time 4y agoWinner's prize is a lifetime place on the federal cybersecurity watchlist I assume.
- Test0129 4y agoTypically the result is a job at the NSA. Though federal positions are criminally underpaid relative to their private counterparts so you have to really have a passion for the mission. Unsurprisingly the government is highly interested in finding talent cheaply. The winners will be responsible for taking a drug test and a polygraph though - which most people coming out of a CS program won't be able to pass ;D.
- sneak 4y agoIf you win a job at the NSA then it's almost certain you will be added to a bunch of federal watchlists - just maybe not the USA's.
- natas 4y ago42
- motohagiography 4y agoIf you are looking for more open challenges, both the 11b-x-1371 series and Cicada 3301 have unsolved stages. I have a copy of the last Cicada code book in a box somewhere, as it looked like a forked fake path, but it's a kitschy bit of internet apocrypha. Also, just do cryptopals (which I haven't actually done and still really should at some point). The John McAfee deadman switch puzzle looked like a hoax, but judging by the number of transactions on the $whackd blockchain and the stakes involved if even a fraction of what he was on about were true, it's plausible NSA or GCHQ got to it first. Those are just ones I can think of off the top of my head. If nothing else has come out of the stream of scandals afflicting that agency, it's that they need better people. If you are eligible, do it, as you could be the change, and it appears the opportunity for improvement there is truly unlimited.
- qsort 4y ago> just do cryptopals Soul read. I did the first two "chapters", then I had to stop for personal reasons and never picked it up again. Perhaps I should put it on my github as a mark of dishonor.
- butler14 4y agoimagine something being such a national priority you limit your pool of possible candidates to people with email addresses from specific universities