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December 15, 2005
Music maestro please
Harry listened to Flutter by Bonobo quite a lot while writing this year's Challenge so he will give free copies of Flutter (from iTunes) to the first 20 correct submissions for Challenge 8. Meanwhile for the rest of you here are two mp3's which you can think of as theme tunes for the Challenge. One of them, Harry's theme, comes from the 2004 Challenge, while the other was written for the 2003 Challenge, but we have renamed it the Michael Five as it has the right kind of feel for this story. Enjoy:
Posted by Harry at December 15, 2005 03:03 PM
Comments
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Lara
You are supposed to have letters and numbers after you have converted the morse to text. The reason for this is that the Fialka machine uses an alphabet consisting of the letters A to Z and the digits 0 to 9. If you look back at the first hint for 8B that Harry gave you will see the text that you should end up with after converting the morse. But remember this text also contains some additional characters at the end that aren't in the original message.
You should end up with 36 squared (=1296) characters.
Posted by: Emily at December 20, 2005 05:28 PM
Harry, i really don't get the stuff about rotors. i looked it up and i looked the fialka cipher and all that up on the internet, but i really don't understand the stuff its coming up with. maybe you could give a clearer definition?!
[I'll see what I can do later. Harry]
Posted by: lara at December 20, 2005 05:12 PM
Don't give up now chidders. I had to work on my own and I nearly gave up. Also you were working at it on Saturday as you posted about your methods. You're not likely to be too far behind. Oh and I was about to try "Jason's challenge" but coudn't be bothered as I wanted my processor back again after furious deciphering.
Posted by: злейшая обезьяна с 3 глазами at December 20, 2005 04:49 PM
harry, this is probably not going to be particularly clear but you know when you turn the morse code into characters...or try to, you get lots of 0s 1s and 2s. so you take 0 for. 1 for -and 2 for space? is that right? and in the normal morse alphabet, you would only have up to 4 .s -s and mixture of the 2. so why do i get some areas where this is right and some others where i get 5, so i get numbers again. someone told me i was supposed to have letters and numbers, but how does this work? how many characters are there actually meant to be in the end? sorry if that was confusing and sorry if i've been pestering you too much on this challenge and the previous 2. but please tell me. it is nearly xmas...
[Hi. You need to make sure you remove all the line breaks before you turn the Morse into characters. There might be some international Morse characters with 5 symbols in them I think. I'll check the number of characters and let you know. Harry.
Posted by: lara at December 20, 2005 02:59 PM
um, maybe nobody can be bothered jason.
ive got too much on to even attempt challenge 8 again :S i havent tried since thursday so i think i can take it that ive given up :P too busy playing fifa and christmas shopping. maybe next year...
chidders
[Bad luck - it was a good effort. Harry]
Posted by: chidders at December 20, 2005 11:31 AM
Is anyone alive on the Michael5 or has it sunk? Or is everyone too busy eating pringles?
[Had to run silent for a while - the Soviet boat was too nearby. Harry]
Posted by: злейшая обезьяна с 3 глазами at December 19, 2005 07:42 PM
Are programs being judged? Mine's a bit of a mess atm, just changed it to how I needed it, and it isn't user friendly at all :o
[Not this year. Harry]
Posted by: Captain Cool at December 18, 2005 07:41 PM
Harry, if you just want to have a forum somewhere, check out www.proboards.com. It's free and very easy to set up, for anyone. I'm not sure if YOU can use it though. Maybe you could get a good forum ready here for the next challenge. I think www.phpBB.com is definitely worth a look. It uses BBCode instead of HTML, looks good, and is Open Source!
It's not possible to do this challenge without at least a bit of brute force at the lowest level, I think. I'm putting all my work into the cryptanalysis program. Then at the end you have something worth keeping. From the last challenge, I have a great Solitaire application, which was not judged last year. But then I didn't finish it properly in time anyway... Got me a solution though didn't it?
I want to know who else has a good program from last time. So, I have created a test for those who think they have one. Decipher the following text:
GUOSJXMW WQPYMJKE JYPOYHHT FOQXLUOK RELHGFYR PMRLYMQS JRIXMBLE ROBXBAZU LNQSNOAY BRVGSWEI XNJWLUWR VONYMDEM RBYBJSAG IHCNDKEE NOKISGEC UJNQZJFN TMHIGWUH UIUVNFDU VJQKULMD LGMSVWWS HMJAJYKX BORZQORQ VYIROTLD HTFDUZYH LHKIGZGT LNNASFHC TLFFHQOL HSSBSBHP YUJJKDBU ADQAYLKE CNKRWLEH HKQWCYPF KWYWZAPV YQVRCPLP EEFZCPPF WWQIWSXK QUVAKAFQ JRYIXUVU VIIILHVY OLGIBWPY MAZZSNCD XYLILXIP ZYAQJYUA ETGHIYXQ WZNZCKST GYTFSEUR THLFZWXC YSDLPGWP AKIOJRWX MIVYRDMJ BHJOKVGC HYUILJPK INAGSMCK TZKXLCPV SXAFEVEF SANTFICD IYNMMBHT EOWHOXTX VZLGGAPA FLVCUBZJ ROPMBKFI DGQWPLGB ETGYZEGH PHSDVCCH IYSCENXY IFTUJALG ZGLYXDLL QNAUZYQH OYGUYSTW VYVFSWYG VYWLSJQL IQDGRCQE PAUPMHHJ TPGMLLCT VITKAEBY YDUJVTOS IRFAZEIX FUSQZKOY WVUHYISH RXIUUYSB FOYNJNVR WDFYWYVD MLRDQZGT PUPALIWF BJGNUNBR EGPXRDCF TRAFVHWS LCEMNPTZ AANDEQAL OZHEIZON RBKZEBWA SDPPQCCW ZGCVQFSF ARYXPRMJ YLLVSTIQ TTXIWTHD SYQBAAOO GDMZWNNY GNUZSHLE LPEOYGLB HURRZAIL ATWIMUWA GVMDPQSK CQNUMCUV CSBIXBNV VJGTBBIB WFVLYVPX TLPTVWIJ MVOZJDFV NEGDWEAQ UOIJVZJA JBFBRCKW
It is a description I wrote of ENCRYPTION, enciphered using Bruce Schneier's "Solitaire cipher" of course. Here is the key-deck in both card names and the solitaire numbering:
10H, QD, 4H, JH, KH, AS, 4D, 9H, 10C, JC, KS, KC, 5S, 10D, 3S, QC, 2D, 3D, AC, JS, 9S, KD, 9C, 2H, 4S, AH, QS, 8H, 2S, 5D, JB, 7C, QH, 7D, 4C, 6S, 6D, 9D, 7S, 8S, JD, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?
36, 25, 30, 37, 39, 40, 17, 35, 10, 11, 52, 13, 44, 23, 42, 12, 15, 16, 1, 50, 48, 26, 9, 28, 43, 27, 51, 34, 41, 18, 54, 7, 38, 20, 4, 45, 19, 22, 46, 47, 24, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
This deck was generated with a key phrase that describes the cipher being used.
With the amount of information provided, good understanding and a good program (with a good method), it would be reasonable to expect the plaintext to be found in 15 minutes. I think it can be done manually using my program within 2 minutes (I did it in one and a half in my test).
If you allow yourself to be distracted, and manage to solve it, do not send the whole plaintext. To prove you have done it state the word 5 words after the word "old". If that has already been done, send the word 5 words after that and so on. Good luck! If you did not do 8B in the last challenge (or if you didn't make a program), this probably isn't even worth trying, but don't let that stop you!
If no-one completes my challenge within the next few days, I can safely say that my solving method is brilliant! Are you going to try it? Now, back to my new program...
Posted by: Jason at December 17, 2005 10:22 PM
i kno its kind of irrelavant bu i mite as well rite it here...
1) why cant i read the php files anymore?
and
2)wot shud i do once i have the 36 different chars/digits? eg a to z and 0 to 9?
wot is the first step in deciphering the cipher?
3)can sum1 plz tel me, where do i put my name in the ticket lottery, or is it automatic, and which date is the prizegiving, or is this going to b confirmed after christmas?
4)wot is a good programming language for making these programs, can sum1 tell me which is most useful, yet reasonably simple, i can do basics of javascript and html
Posted by: Insane (FHS) at December 17, 2005 10:04 PM
Harry,
Can your magnifying glass tell where the light blue and light green wires go on rotor 2?
[I'll have a look later, Harry]
Posted by: Sir Solvalot at December 17, 2005 09:22 PM
I agree about the forum.
You could always resort to one of those free message boards that you don't have to host yourself...
[I think the University would prefer it if we had a bit more control, but I'll look into it. Harry]
Posted by: слон at December 17, 2005 08:32 PM
On the subject of post Cipher Challenge meetings:
Is it possible to have a proper forum after 8B has finished so that we can discuss our programs etc. and learn from each other?
i think that it'll be a useful learning aid...
[I really want to do this, but am having difficulty setting one up. Harry]
Posted by: Josh at December 17, 2005 07:21 PM
i dont think ill be able to crack this one, because im absolutely detirmined not to brute force it. there is no fun in that :P
im still working on my method, but my methods not working for me :P
chidders
[I'll try to give more cribs for you. Harry]
Posted by: chidders at December 17, 2005 05:45 PM
Harry, Some time ago a get together was mentioned at Southampton - Not the prize giving, an informal one.
I'd like to go, and both or my parents have volunteered to take me as both went to Southampton
[Great, I hope to have a day in spring or early summer. I'll try to be more definite about possible dates after Christmas. Harry]
Posted by: Mike at December 17, 2005 02:56 PM
Some people do say that there IS a link between maths and music...
Posted by: Jess at December 17, 2005 02:28 PM
Is the IBM prize the same as last year?
Teams at top of leader board submit their programmes and the best one wins a laptop?
[The IBM prize is a laptop, but we are not judging programmes this year. Harry]
Posted by: tom at December 17, 2005 01:30 PM
Out of interest Harry, how many people are there at southampton organising the challenge?
[Two of us. Harry]
Posted by: tom at December 17, 2005 12:07 PM
"grudi vision"? "GRU division" ;)
7 people already...aargh. I hate bugs.
Kati
Posted by: Katriel Cohn-Gordon at December 17, 2005 11:48 AM
More than half of our team are serious musicians. I wonder if there's a link?
Posted by: Maestro (I wish!) at December 17, 2005 11:06 AM
How many solvers now Harry?
[Eight. Harry]
Posted by: Mike at December 17, 2005 09:29 AM
What happens if there are ties at the top of the honours board at the end? Like if there were multiple teams on 2nd, or something?
[We would use our skill and jusgement, but it doesn't look likely. Harry]
Posted by: Hannah at December 17, 2005 08:59 AM
Have the line breaks gone weird there? I hope not...
Posted by: cecil at December 17, 2005 08:01 AM
Hi, sorry, here are those decrypts I promised it seems like months ago. I've been so busy, ill and tired...
*yawn*
======
||6B||
======
I do believe this was a Vigenere with rows and columns swapped and the keyword "Fialka Mark I", or was that
another one? Any comments?
Anyways,
--------------------
Comrades, the weather held for the drop and the assault group made its rendezvous with the weather station. They
are now waiting for instructions about the rendezvous with the grudi vision. The weather station predicts two
days of clear weather for the evacuation starting in forty two hours. You are to track the surface party from
under the ice and to keep marines at the ready to support them. If necessary, engage and sink the mikhael five,
but do not endanger your own ship: it is the only suitable support vessel available for the operation. The
weather station is equipped with a pair of new cipher machines known as the fialka. These are being tested for
reliability in sea operations but early tests are promising and you are ordered to take delivery of one of their
machines and use it in future communications. The final production model has ten rotors and is highly secure. The
weather station model is less complicated but will afford a reasonable level of security for your more important
communications. Our next message to you will contain information about settings for the machine, which will allow
you to send your final report on the operation, using it. I need hardly remind you that these machines must not
fall into american hands. s
-----------------------------
That look OK? Not quite sure about the "s" at the end, but it seemed to get through the solution checker...
======
||7B||
======
Aah... the Hill cipher...This was fun ;D. Do you want to know HOW I did it? ... its quite long...
----------------------------------
Comrades, we are under attack. The spetznaz surface party made good time carrying the beacon towards the shore.
However, they were caught in a pincer movement by two large parties of American marines, out numbered by ten to
one. They have been forced to abandon the mission. We are tracking the beacon and hope to surface nearby in order
to retrieve it. The American submarine was following us but using our superior navigational skills, we have
out-manoeuvred it and left it behind. We took on troops from the weather station and they will rendezvous with
the Spetznaz to destroy the US commandos. We shall then meet our victorious troops at the edge of the ice pack.
The superiority of our scientists in technological engineering have again been proved throughout the recovery
mission. The beacon continues to transmit its time signal without interruption and the inclusion of there
lativistic correction means that it continues to be perfectly synchronised with the orbiting device. Our
navigator has been able to use the signal to triangulate successfully our position. It is clear that with more
beacons we have the basis for determining our location anywhere on the earth. Another victory for the mother
land! Once we have met out victorious comrades with the beacon, we will transmit out final report using the new
rotary cipher xx×
---------------------------------
So, yeah, the end. hth :p
cecil
x X x
Posted by: cecil at December 17, 2005 08:01 AM
How many people here play a musical instrument?
Posted by: cecil at December 17, 2005 07:56 AM
"We usually make it the winners of the main prizes, this year those are the IBM prize, the GCHQ prize and the Trinity College prize. Harry"
There's an IBM prize? What is it for?
[Essentially (this year) they will be first second and third prize. Harry]
Posted by: Jess at December 17, 2005 12:30 AM
Earlier on you said that the winners would be garaunteed tickets for the prize giving, but that it's a lottery for everyone else.
But upto what position do you class as winners for this? just whoever is 1st? or upto 5th place?, or whatever?
[We usually make it the winners of the main prizes, this year those are the IBM prize, the GCHQ prize and the Trinity College prize. Harry]
Posted by: tom at December 16, 2005 09:30 PM
Is that the same Ian Niblo as in After The Fire (http://www.afterthefire.co.uk/)? They played Connaught Hall (Southampton University Student Hall of Residence) when I was there....
[Yes, Harry]
Posted by: Mark's Dad at December 16, 2005 08:06 PM
as a musician, the first one is painful to listen to, but i quite like the michael5 one. i guess the first one isnt too bad, but just a tad repetitive :S
chidders
[The first one was improvised in one take by a couple of friends who did it as a favour. Harry]
Posted by: chidders at December 16, 2005 07:58 PM
how many now harry? i havent got time at the mo. carol concert last night, and i decided im watching a film tonight. im just too tired to work on it any more. and tomorrow im going christmas shopping. ah well, if i get up early tomorrow, then maybe i can try to solve it :S
chidders
[7 at the last count. Harry]
Posted by: chidders at December 16, 2005 07:56 PM
I have ths prob sometimes. Try closing all IE's and reopening them!
Posted by: Nebster at December 16, 2005 12:25 PM
Neither file works on my computer it says "The image “http://www.cipher.maths.soton.ac.uk/Michael5.mp3” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors."
[Anyone else have this rpoblem? Harry]
Posted by: Cara at December 16, 2005 08:55 AM
If an 'M' is encrypted, what should it come out of the plugboard as?
[5 I think. Harry]
[Did I misunderstand your question? If you type M into the keyboard then it passes through the punchcard and comes out of there as a 5 ready to go into the first Rotor. Harry]
Posted by: 3 at December 16, 2005 12:01 AM
How many crackers?
[5 teams so far. Harry]
Posted by: thy at December 15, 2005 10:46 PM
Jason: http://www.widisoft.com/
I expect it's a bit like OCR... does the job, but hell to make it perfect :P
Anyway, yeah, my favourite is the new one as well.
Posted by: Ian at December 15, 2005 08:23 PM
That reminds me: I've got music coursework to do!! Have to put the program on hold again.
MIDI files are instructions for the computer to play music. How it sounds, and its quality, depends on your hardware i.e. sound card. With mp3 or whatever, it will sound the same everywhere (like it did when the composer made it). This means however that the file will be MUCH bigger and you can't use composing tools e.g. Sibelius or Cakewalk to put the music into a readable form, at least without some sort of converter that detects each note and writes it as a MIDI file. I wonder if you can get that sort of thing...
Posted by: Jason at December 15, 2005 07:36 PM
Have you had 20 submissions yet?
[Not at the last count. Harry]
Posted by: 3vil at December 15, 2005 07:35 PM
Harry
I still can't see the Rotor 1 wiring. Can you help?
[Isn't it listed in the Pringle Enigma comment? Harry]
Posted by: Emily at December 15, 2005 07:02 PM
You get a 404 if you try and open the link if viewing from the specific comments page (ie the one that you click on to write comments like I'm doing!)
If you go back to main and open the link, you should have no problems
[Fixed. Harry]
Posted by: Alli at December 15, 2005 06:44 PM
I don't get a 404 when I click from the main Boat's Log page but I do from the actual entry with the comments on the right.
[Thanks it should be fixed now. Harry]
Posted by: Jess at December 15, 2005 06:42 PM
Both of the links seem to go to nonexistant pages, could you please sort that out?
[Done! Harry]
Posted by: Ruth at December 15, 2005 06:03 PM
I love them. Very good taste in music! Happy holidays all!!
Posted by: cynthia at December 15, 2005 05:43 PM
The Micheal 5 song is legendary.
Could tag a composing competition onto the challenge next year. :)
Posted by: tom at December 15, 2005 05:17 PM
Nice... who's Ian A. Niblo then (nice initials)?
I can't help but think they should be MIDI though :P
And the links don't work except on the main page, you need to use the full URL or just put the backslashes in.
[Ah, now I see. Does that work? Harry]
Posted by: Ian at December 15, 2005 04:52 PM
Harry are they for correct submissions to 8A or 8B?
[8B of course, 8A would be too easy. Harry]
Posted by: Josh at December 15, 2005 04:45 PM
I get a 404 when i click the links for some reason?
[I don't know why. Anyone else got this problem? Harry]
Posted by: Nick at December 15, 2005 04:31 PM
lol no was just surprised that the challenge has a theme tune!
Posted by: martyn compton at December 15, 2005 03:54 PM
I like the theme tune for this year's challenge :).
Kati
Posted by: Katriel Cohn-Gordon at December 15, 2005 03:37 PM
ok now im kinda worried! lol oh what fun though :)
[You don't like my taste in music? Harry]
Posted by: martyn compton at December 15, 2005 03:14 PM