okay we're rolling I love right yeah I
right here today on dart at Neversoft
yeah well all right then I guess we're
doing a little bit of eternal darkness I
have a general in the middle ready sorry
okay I so consider up to I'm command
code we run a compass over your def con
called ec dark pen we're going to take
you guys through a little bit of history
ciphers today yesterday we gave a talk
on how to run how we go about running
darknet the second largest contest run a
darknet appear only 2nd the Angels
economic results so we're going to throw
briefs native Lakers and then get some
audience participation on solving some
of these so throughout history there's
been a nice battle between code makers
include Gregor's where I take a little
short history through these so some
early Tigers stayed back to early
Egyptian dates to either had the Caesar
cipher ah he did this get here he was
terrified that somebody was going to
kill him so he encrypted messages back
and forth or actually really encrypted
it was relayed Christian arrest treason
committed from his own as any call me
having a second and then the ancient
Greeks used clone caught up a sidehill
they say it was written on pieces of
paper if you wrap it around 80
appropriately sized dick essentially
would spell out what you need with the
actual orders work with insurance with
you the medieval diapers so an
interesting story back in the 1586 in
October 1586 the queen of Lemurian Scots
was tried for treason to clean a little
bit um she was
she was being helped because she was the
accusation was that she was being
treated it start to clean and Quadi her
death well eh it was something to do
that and but she was really just a
figurehead for a group of noblemen our
Catholic and Queen Elizabeth was
Protestant and they were trying to get
her out however Queen Elizabeth was
certain that she was I sorry Queen Mary
was certain that to her communicating
more piotrek issues encrypting or
Cypress encrypting her messages back and
forth I'm actually known as the queen
mary cypher however the person I pushed
our prosecutor was actually also the
spymaster for England at the time and
was able to decrypt their message and
write them back to her while she was on
trial and technically a little less than
a year later she was beheaded this is
actually the cipher they was it was
cracked by doing a simple frequency
analysis with the most frequent symbols
were and then trying to trigger for
garel the word meant from there but all
her messages to those nobleman about how
to go about over to co-op Queen
Elizabeth wasn't written like this
popular the snipers over the years that
he grew any 1800 editor and imposed on a
first name D wrote was written in the
Philadelphia dollar newspaper where he
wrote a Goldberg shaker and put it out
there this fueled a whole bunch of you
know safer messages every every week in
different newspapers I sort of a again
easily broke what it's a frequency
analysis as the population grew I'm
going to save them he examined coming
here it but yeah thank you created a
play for a magnificant oddly the same
year that Queen Mario's was put on trial
um
stood for about 300 years I was cracked
in court by Charles bench the strength
of the cycle of the fact that he uses 26
different one time had essentially it'll
look up so if you both had the same one
time head and you know the keyword was
to be here if the messages hail this is
what one of the you can have any of them
but this is the most common used block
so any one of 20 take them both
directions and you basically use the
keyword to look up the letters of each
the letters would end right hand side in
the letter that you're trying to sell
out across the top you look up a letter
and open the cute Anjali so with that a
little bit of history there's actually a
reason for that as well if you if you
want to old scroll backward or forward
and the and exec later there's some
hints there and so we're doing so what
I'm going to do now is actually present
to you a cipher that we developed for
the darkness last year and invite you to
solve it and again this can be
interacted so we're going to try to go
through the presentation part as quickly
as possible but then you know if you'd
like we could could be just work through
some of these things so so this hyper
was part of a business card desi which
is a picture of the business card end
and the critical bit are the gold
numbers here so it's worth pondering
what that sequence of numbers might be
I'll just leave it up for a second here
like I said we can go back to it later
as well I mean I'm happy again if we
decide that it's difficult to do this in
the format of a 30-minute interactive
day we can just walk through it and I
can walk you through how wet just for
funsies because i think it's interesting
how ciphers get developed as well here
is the actual cipher that the gold
numbering is meant to solve now these
are sequins of clocks clocks are pretty
cool i like
what's interesting about a clock a clock
is a indicate the 12-hour clock 12 full
hours of seconds which as you all know
is forty-three thousand two hundred
seconds very relevant to this cipher and
I'm realizing the limitations of this
form when it comes to interactively
follow me this so let me pop forward and
then we'll go back and walk you through
this up so we can talk about how this
was designed why we came up with is
decided yha part it's very easy to come
up with a cipher that's almost
impossible to crack in a short amount of
time right the interesting and fun part
of it is come up with a cipher that is
solvable but it's hard to solve easy
Tigers are easy really almost impossible
ciphers are pretty easy ciphers that are
solvable and fun is hard now relevant to
the clock puzzle is base arithmetic
patriotic is interesting and I think a
lot of people take it for granted so
we'll just walk through how numbers kind
of work because it's kind of cool when
you have a sequence of digits in this
case these are binary digits the way it
works is that each progressive place is
a place of the base number to the next
power right these up and it pays to the
zero power is the ones place to the
first power to the twos place to the
second power to fourth place and so on
and so forth and that's how binary
numbers work there are some of the
multiplication of the number in that
place times the places there in just
like the tens phase 10 numbers are again
a sequence of 10 to the power 0 1 2 3 4
5 one place has placed hundreds place
thousands place so to get the number out
of the base system that you have you
multiply the number in the base position
time to space and you add them all
together to get the numbers now basis
can be pretty tricky actually
like without negative basis how did
those work while they want the exact
same way and they're only tricky because
it's kind of mind-bending to think of
how this works but if you think about it
was negative 4 to the power 0 still in
one place then the next place is what
they need for the power one which will
be the negative forest place so in this
numbering system there are no numbers
designated with a negative time because
the numbering system itself covers all
of the negative and positive numbers in
one positive looking sequence which is
pretty interesting and potentially
useful for a lot of different kinds of
calculations so again if you were to
solve these do to be another piece of
the puzzle but let me again if you going
through this and then let's go back and
interactively solve the whole thing so
so this talk ends with this interesting
piece of ciphertext which all of the
clues that we've divided up till now on
how so hey okay we'll just walk through
the actual so cool so let's go back a
little ways here um talk about this
first I / this cipher that gold
lettering or a numbering is a sequence
of numbers that should be familiar 2 3 5
7 11 13 17 19 23 29 those are the first
26 not just 70 G is 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 times
that's correct at first and if you
counted about you discover that they
were 26 which is a pretty interesting
puzzle piece because 26 a special number
does it's the number of letters that
we've got so that's kind of cool so that
tells you something about what these
numbers are supposed to meet these clock
faces then reminding me up
remind me because I'm weird I think of
myself ok cool so about a bunch of prime
numbers what I know about prime numbers
they have unique decomposition into a
series of numeric basis when you do
prime factorization of them and so
immediately to my mind comes the idea
how can I really compactly represent
really huge numbers like multiply all
the prime together that I'm going to
need to sell something out and will come
to mind first when you think about
compact number of sedation well of
course clocks clocks come to mind
because I can represent a base
forty-three thousand two hundred number
I just using a sequence of clocks rather
than writing really giant decimal
numbers everywhere so I made a bunch of
clocks simple so now there's also
questions in who here knows what big
endian numbers are versus little endian
numbers can somebody give a description
a big endian means you're not on the
left side it takes for a little bit
looks like doing the whole globe you
shins exactly so to repeat this for the
hydrophone big-endian numbers have their
largest significant digits on the left
for us anglophile and little endian
numbers have their smallest significant
digits on the left these are little
endian base forty-three thousand two
hundred numbers what happens here is
there the sequence of words and near
tell the words of forms each word takes
the letter that is in the word it is in
the first place it as a W in the first
place i go and i find the WXYZ the 23rd
Prime and i put it in the prime factors
wants to represent the first digit i
find the second letter h which is the
eighth letter of the alphabet and so I
put the 8th prime number in twice
represent it's the second digit and so
on for subsequent digits so for each
plays of the digit I put that many more
of the ordinal prime
represented by that number i multiply
them all together i get ridiculously
large numbers and so then i write them
in base forty-three thousand two hundred
and use the relevant number and make a
clock out of it of course why would
anybody do anything else am i right um
so if I actually so it turns out the dis
sci / is a URL oh yeah and it's stacey
which is ed SI è é HTML and when you
go there you realize that you don't have
an internet connection and that's not
going to disappoint here there would
have been a very simple message which
would look like an encrypted sequence of
characters very small one though and
it's very simple it's wrote 13 the
Caesar cipher which we were talking
about earlier is a slide deck and that's
where the connection back to the story
who gives to happen guessing that it's
row 13 immediately gives you English
English words that they his killer now
his is not bound to anything yet except
the fact that is a caesar cipher we were
talking about the trees of Caesar as you
might guess that the answer is Curtis we
did answer so good job Oh awesome
allegedly there you go connected to the
Internet oh that you're home Michael I
don't know it a little it's a little to
eat figure I'll refresh oh it may better
well mixed success oh it's connecting
I'm sure that's the payoff is imminent
maybe you should read not a window
rebooting which would also solve the
problem but in a different way because
it would never come back home video
again okay so let's go back to the
presentation somehow more more beer
would solve the problem so so cool now
we have a clue the clue is Brutus we got
that by solving the puzzle which of
course when they've taken you guys any
amount of time and and then we found the
row 13 which is caleb is killer Brutus
we're awesome work we're in a good
square in good shape now um now we now
have all the puzzle pieces that we need
in order to solve the very last piece of
the puzzle here but let's imagine
especially would like to go back to is
the so you can get back there okay
complicated yeah present there you go
okay cool awesome this is this is
sorting it so so now we have the base
numbers that turns out that there's
another puzzle right here this puzzle
again is top we're giving the tools that
we've been already taught here in the in
the in the slide deck turned out that
the number is 1015 1586 hop up here and
and since you all have identical
memories I'm sure you remember that this
was the date mentioned previously on
slide 3 in which the day to that Mary
Queen of Scots was accused of treason
was tried for treason occurred and this
reminds us of that part of the story so
that's pretty cool too right
now we have Brutus a treasonous member
of Caesars court and the date of the
trial for treason of Mary Queen of Scots
and we ask ourselves what is what is one
of these guys trying to tell us well
they may be trying to tell us that
treason is going to be something
relevant to solving the puzzle which oh
my gosh that's exactly right you guys
are doing amazing now this I / here
which is now secured by 12 point that's
hot that puddle here is a different type
or than the one that we were talking
before and if you were to do a little
bit of like cursory analysis of if you
might realize immediately that it's not
row 13 is number of 14 it's none of
those but again did your clever and
paying attention you realize that we've
mentioned one other historically
relevant and super interesting cipher in
this presentation which is the veneer or
visionnaire and oh yeah so putting these
things together you you come to the
conclusion of course that treason is the
key that tells you which rose to use in
which order in the Visionaire and you
then plugged it in and you get sick
Semper Tyrannis which is a famous
quotation said bye sorry no closed or 10
not in this case it was also said by
john wilkes booth upon the assassination
of Abraham Lincoln famous treasonous act
and then doesn't have you got it good
anyway if you guys like this kind of
thing this is what deck on is so that
common sense or what darknet is anyway
so I cars com every year Def Con every
year we have
27 to 30 semi quest lines at least a
dozen of them probably this type of
pattern other ones follow learn to
slaughter kid so we milk and make a
badge every single year should actually
we're looking show you guys ensuring the
edges subtle what so the bags look we
did relax for years now so far right and
correct and this year will be I will
significantly hop all of those given the
amount of effort we put into it less
heart but there's quest on the badges so
there's actually learning to slaughter
what you want to solder all the badges
have a unique ID it is usually some sort
of question if you need a out some of
them Galway to doing silly thing a plug
into your USB and all sudden it becomes
e keyboard probably should never do that
by the way he did it at home then a
couple years ago we had well last two
years ago rfid challenges by building an
hour IDK owner and then having six or
seven of the concept runners having
great lasagna at you had a clone each
one of them and walk up to the station
and get through I like you're opening up
a door with them lock picking the lock
picking one fine language one is
basically a big tax based MMO that every
time you complete when you get points
into the last three years we've been
rewarded the black guys if you know that
isn't that fun I me to get free internet
comfort life and usually interview with
Eunice a right afterwards that's how
pros and cons of that once you guys are
interested in the tech I'll throw this
image up there that's the link the deck
because once it take pics is almost the
time what question you get that
hello questions communicate perfectly I
reckon I don't know this question to
that I would have 22 and I got those of
this generation of hatch first the way I
exactly there's nice yeah I did it looks
firmer for that one I like more I like
the dark net was actually my favorite
part of the comment like that better
than most of the list of the concert I'm
looking forward to being back there this
year too nigga I hope you guys really
want to find out some insight for our
90-day information but leave some detail
that would like if you had a hack ties
website we were interviewed last year
with zero and I for about 15-20 minutes
on the history of that dark net while
you get that sort of thing there we are
by far the second-largest like by like
5x the next comic minus we also a dt
Dark Continent we have our site online
now and about a month before the con we
put up a mini challenge there which is
very puzzled Lee it's completely online
so we walk you through a sort of a micro
experience of what the darkness like in
them I love anybody wants to come and
try it I happen to really love trying to
develop hard with all those diapers and
so I like talking about that I like
anybody wants to come in and see these
come on yes sir are you sorted with yes
and Chuck and so there's in where
Anderson Anderson so one of our members
and close friends is one of the guys
that run surrounded crux yeah so Jeff
dad he's I spent I spent many hours with
him every hitter didn't because he does
last several years he's done most of the
board layout this year we split it up
about cookie cookie I'm doing all the
food before you at all firmware and he
did all the hardware they share I wanted
to get a bit deeper into the hardware
side thought about with your son of it
he thought about with your son of it
what we spend between the months of
about end of april to august
we send spend more time together than we
really want to it's a reasonable
statement a question sister I really
like that you just had hard that's all
whole Piper's I'm the next teacher so
FYI if you go over into my time I won't
be offended to roof what is your process
or valley great you are and when it's
result considering we came up with four
in the last 24 hours because we forgot
to do when I got here um that's a good
question so I can talk about the way I
think about it so um yesterday at the
top we gave in track one I spoke a lot
about context so to me creating a heart
of assault bill cipher is primarily not
about the mechanics that use to hit the
cipher in route I mean clocks whatever
time it's really about the context that
you said so for example on the card the
fact that the first 26 crimes are
illuminated might give you an idea
something else that might happen in some
other quest line in the dark that might
have been that somebody talked about
base resin take in fact I wrote a
question about Bates arithmetic so if
you are setting yourself up for success
you would immerse yourself in all the
contact that's been that's been awkward
um so hard to solve cyprus me are about
one having a content accessible to doing
the right direction so for example in
the gates of the cards that were hints
that were provided and when people were
getting closer and closer more and more
people started to trade information so
we also like to socialize we have we
have an encourage group chatter just
like the badge challenge at that kind of
you don't know it all throughout the
continent that on there are clues in all
the artwork on all the programs and all
the materials the badges you get and
people are encouraged to share that
freely because there's no way to put all
the context together by yourself now in
our case we're more limited we bring
that context into the dark net but then
you have that and then the second thing
is to choose of what I would call a
relatable
mechanic in this case base arithmetic
maybe not that relatable but for
computer science and people who might be
near you doing this other stuff that's
very familiar and so there's a knowledge
source right nearby that's familiar with
that kind of mechanic the one I'm going
to do for this year is going to be
similarly geeky but not quite as
relating to weird now but let's help it
all up bring on to that a little bit
previous of my current interest in 15
years ago to human streets one of them's
I learned is that you never know nobody
that buys your game enjoy honey what is
what is the designer and ink team not
upon death on a fun game so you have to
provide just like zero side enough
context the only men easy-like we did
pretty well dark netted we have two
separate story writers the right the
entire story and then we wrap the quests
around the story when we're done so the
story actually has hints and for every
single question as you go through it a
couple of other things about dark net
like last year we actually had the kind
of climax of the story was the agents
the good guys needed to solve enough
quest to keep firewall up while the Mad
Hatter was trying to hack into the dark
net there was a group of 30 40 people
sitting up call for caution morning
trying to defend off solving me sing
winner and like the easy puzzles or like
five point the harder ones were like
hundred points for the hell like that a
whole organization going out of like you
guys solved the evening list while we're
going to go up and try to solve this
hardware I'm titling it would it was
awesome to watch so the social aspect of
it is something that it may be heard
this great product any last questions
before we make sure that the scag is all
the time I get dog like that you don't
want me alright cool for you thank you