Foreign Transmission Detected: SOLVED! (DBO)

by /Sekhmet/ , destiny.bungie.org, Wednesday, October 09, 2013, 11:27 (4063 days ago)

//SIG_INT/DAT_STRM_INJECT/COMM.AI.DBO.SEKHMET //MODE/EN
//BEGIN-TX

Good morning, my Guardians! I received a strange transmission at one of my outer perimeter listening stations overnight. The signal was weak but unmistakable. Preliminary analysis revealed errors that must be corrected. Unfortunately there was no repeat, so what was captured is what we have. I will update this node with more information as it becomes available.

Signal cleanup processing…
Estimated time of next update: 1330 -0700

Update 1 (1340 -0700):
Thank you for standing by, Guardians. Signal processing is complete. Signal reconstruction was 99.98% effective, hopefully that will be enough.


//MODE/?UNKNOWN
//DATA_DUMP
==wM8ACIyMzN4AjfKogUFhEUZNEROV0LvogNmNDN
ygTMyUGN0AzYkdzNwEzNmR2YjNWZiR2M4AjZlBDO
0EWZ2MjYlZmN4MGN0QmZmV2Y5cTZkZTY1YDO3MzN
KI0QF9COyEzUFF0LFR0TNJVRIBVWD9yLKogLlN2d
pBHIl52bg4UagMXaoRHIodWdvJHa0BSZt92Yg8Gd
gUmchBSZ3BSesV2apxGIlJ3btBSZoRHIsIXZoRXZ
n9GdgsmcvdHI5VEa0BSZy9WbgUGaUBiLud3bkt2Y
vxGIlhGdgI3bmBCd19GIoNGdhdHIvRHItVGa0ByI
sVGVg4iclhGdld2b0Byay92dg8GdgQWZl5GI5VGa
0BCd1JGIsMXaoRHIo9Ta3BybkByb0BCdhh2dgc3b
utGIsx2J5VGaUBiLyVGdzVXMjBSZ2lGSgUGa0BiZ
vBCd19GI5F2dgUGa0BibvBCZlBEclNmclRnbpByc
hdHIzlGaUpAL0VWbotWZTpgCyMzN4ATLUlkTV5CR
SFUVH5UQW5yTCREI600TSZkCUVUTItURT5SSB5yT
CREI68EV
//END_DATA_DUMP


Now where was that /primary/ I had floating around here…?

Update 2 (1351 -0700):
Guardians, please report status updates here so that we may all follow the progress. I believe this message was received from an agent deep in enemy territory. The fact that we have not received any follow-up communications from them since the initial transmission last night is worrisome at best.

Update 3 (1904 -0700):
Guardian Arukemos found the missing code! A breakdown of steps will be forthcoming…

-------
Update 4: The Solution (2048 -0700):
Wow, look at all that communication! Thank you to all the Guardians who helped decode the message from 08732, and congrats to Arukemos! After scanning the communication logs, here are the steps required to decode the message:

1) Reverse the data dump and decode base-64 to unveil the message from agent 08732:

TO: DBO.AI.SEKHMET
FROM: DBO.VANGUARD.UNIT-08732

Sekhmet,
This was intercep@ed on the way out of the Hive c1uster. They'll know what to do wi?h this, but they need to work together. Tel# them to watch out for the lockdown. The more thEy work together, the more likely we are to come through this iN one piwce.

//CYPHERMODE/AES128/ECB
737865a6de79ceffd44c86feb36ea480ef083dbecccdf71077dc044e218243f6
//ENDCYPHER

~08732  <3

2) The message is damaged, but one can make out that an AES-128 (ECB Mode) string was encrypted in the message. The next trick was to find the key, which I had lost a few days ago but apparently distributed on the COMMS/TWITTER channel before it went missing completely. The hex in that transmission translates to 'Carpe diem', which is the encryption /primary/. [Notation: The reasons for this data loss remain unclear, but do not appear to be an issue for the time being.]

3) Running the encrypted data and 'Carpe diem' key through the decryption tool here (using the proper settings) results in a URL of an image:

http://i.imgur.com/OqrhMac.jpg

4) At first this image appears to be badly scrambled, but separating and re-aligning the color channels provides a clear enough image. Here we can see what appears to be a lab sketch of the three alphanumeric triplets we have been uncovering as of late, but the order is unclear and there is a missing character on one of the triangle faces (9N?):

5) Guardian 3of9 cleverly discovered that there is a guide in the image indicating which segment goes in which order. The letters α, β, γ (alpha, beta, gamma) are the first three of the Greek alphabet, indicating first, second, and third position of the triplets. This revealed the foundation of the code to be D7V-9N?-CX4, but a byte was still missing from the sequence!

6) Unfortunately there were at least 36 byte choices, but Guardians only have four failed attempts before the security system denies access for a 24-hour period. This required Guardians to work together to determine which bytes had not been attempted by others. Kanbo set up a clever interconnected tracking document (status: offline) for Guardians to mark their guesses, and eventually Guardian Arukemos found the missing byte as '7' to unlock the code!

7) The final code was D7V-9N7-CX4.

Again, excellent effort on this, Guardians! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some Mandelbrot fractal sets that have been toying with me…

~Sekhmet <3

//END-TX