[Puzzle] JayNineteen Youtube Profile Update [5/7/07]

[TOSG]

"Every man and every woman is a star."


ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa

060060061061060061060060040060 060061060061060060060040060060 061060061060061061040060060061 061060060060061040060060061061 060060061061040060060061060061 060060061040060060061060060060 060060040060060061061060060060 061040060060061060061060060060 040060060061060061060061061040 060060061061060061060060040060 060061060061060060061040060060 061060060060060060040060060061 061061060060060040060060061060 061060060060040060060061060061 060061061040060060061061060060 060061040060060061061060061061 061040060060061060061060060061 040060060061060060060060060040 060060061061060061060060040060 060061060061060060060040060060 061060061061060061040060060061 061060060060061040060060061061 060060060061040060060061060061 060060061040060060061060060060 060060040060060061061060060060 061040060060061060061060060060 040060060061060061061060061040 060060061061060060060061040060 060061061060061060060040060060 061060061060060061040060060061 060060060060060040060060061061 061060060060040060060061060061 060060060040060060061060061061 060061040060060061061060060060 061040060060061061060061061060 040060060061060061060060061

Octal ---> ASCII Text:

00110100 00101000 00101011 00110001 00110011 00101001 00100000 00110001 00101000 00101011 00110100 00101001 00100000 00111000 00101000 00101011 00110001 00110111 00101001 00100000 00110100 00101000 00101101 00110001 00110001 00101001 00100000 00110001 00101000 00101101 00110001 00110100 00101001 00100000 00111000 00101000 00101101 00110001 00110110 00101001

Binary ---> ASCII Text:

4(+13) 1(+4) 8(+17) 4(-11) 1(-14) 8(-16)

The quote is from Crowley. I'm working on figuring out what the decoding numbers may apply to.

[TOSG]

No immediate insights. Assuming the decoding numbers work as before, we should be looking for an 18-base DNA sequence. The "ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa" string of letters (maybe a Vigenere key or a message to decode) is 24 letters, and the Crowley quote is more yet. Any ideas?

[TOSG]

Also, his myspace quote is now "SIRS." I'm not sure if this is new or not. I think that it refers to "Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome," which is often caused by "cytokine storms." Interleukins are often hugely upregulated in such storms. Walter titled one of his photobucket pictures "interlukin" [sic] and interleukins also play a role in XSCID, which we've seen before.

A bit of a stretch, but interesting.

ETA: In the coded message that I sent him a little while ago, the vigenere passphrase was "cytokine." In the one he sent back, the passphrase was "storm." I think this is on the right track .

[ignatzmouse]

Well I tried Vigenere decrypting "ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa" with as many sequences of {A,C,G,T} as I could stand, and none of them produced a sensible-looking key. The nearest I got was "chimps" which decrypts to "gcgcag..." but after that it's gibberish. Er, and what have chimps got to do with it? Will we see animal rights demonstrators outside Facility J?

[ignatzmouse]

OOG PS: Ooh, this is nice timing, Maddison winds down and the Facility J gamejack starts up...

[Luminous]

Well I tried Vigenere decrypting "ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa" with as many sequences of {A,C,G,T} as I could stand, and none of them produced a sensible-looking key. The nearest I got was "chimps" which decrypts to "gcgcag..." but after that it's gibberish. Er, and what have chimps got to do with it? Will we see animal rights demonstrators outside Facility J?

Hi iMous

Hey can you explain what you just did there for me? I'm confused. Sorry

[ignatzmouse]

Hi iMous

Hey can you explain what you just did there for me? I'm confused. Sorry

Ah, it's getting like the old Facility J days, oh the nostalgia...

I didn't do anything very rocket sciency, just a bit boring. I put the message ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa into the Rumkin Vigenere-omatic and then started going through possible decrypt keys.

The idea is that Vigenere is given by ciphertext_i = (plaintext_i + key_i) mod 26, so decryption is given by plaintext_i = (ciphertext_i - key_i) mod 26, but you can just as well use it for key_i = (ciphertext_i - plaintext_i) mod 26. So if you feed in guesses for the plaintext, you'll get guesses for the key back.

So taking ciphertext = "ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa" and then starting with plaintext = "aaa" we get key = "ijo..." which looks like gibberish, so next we try "aac" and get key = "ijm..." ditto. Keep going, diving deep when you get something like "chimps" which actually is a word.

The reason why this works is that there's not many combinations of {A,C,G,T} to deal with, and we're guessing that the key is probably something recognizable.

[Luminous]

So here's what we've tried so far in chat:

Message: Everymanandeverywomanisastar
Pass: ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa
Result: Wmqdjoanhuedfujjykvuhzcakkmd

Message: Everymanandeverywomanisastar
Pass: SIRS
Result: Mnnzgejvifmmdwagegvivabialjz

Message: ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa
Pass: SIRS
Result: qbxwxqjiblijycrxgwaoobzi

Message: ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa
Pass: Everymanandeverywomanisastar
Result: eokxrmantgwxvgrrcqfgtbya

Message: ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa
Pass: storm
Result: qqaxdghmchhictwxfqauoqcj

Message: Everymanandeverywomanisastar
Pass: storm
Result: Mcqamuhzjbllhnfgdavovpejgbhd

Message: ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa
Pass: star
Result: qqoxxfajbazkyriyglrpoqqj

Message: ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa
Pass: abrahadabra
Result: iixoiyxasczbptiiybrfpjqz







Obviously, there's something we're missing

[Musique]

This is a really random train of thought about possible "key words".

The quote by Crowley mentions how every man and every woman is a star. Stars are illuminated bodies of light in the universe... so I'm thinking, "light", or illuminate, or the like might be a possibility?

Then I thought about what TOSG said about "storms". Storm, maybe?

Now I've combined the two. A light during a storm... lightning, thunderbolt? Or even a beacon of light during a storm on the seas, a lighthouse?

[silverblue]

Can I get a hallelujah?!





Sorry that I can't help with the decoding.

[ignatzmouse]

And as a check to see if it's keyed Vigenere, the lookup table for {A,C,G,T} Vigenere-encrypted with {A,C,G,T} is:

Code: Select all

a+a a+c a+g a+t c+c c+g c+t g+g g+t t+t
a   c   g   t   e   i   v   m   z   m

so the ciphertext we've got is:

Code: Select all

*   *   *   *   *   *   a+a a+a a+t a+t g+t *   
i   j   o   o   p   y   a   a   t   t   z   b

*   *   c+g *   *   c+c *   a+g a+g *   *   a+a
q   k   i   p   y   e   r   g   g   j   q   a

If this was an {A,C,G,T} sequence encrypted with keyed Vigenere, the "*"s above would disappear after a while (once the passphrase runs out). Since they don't, this is probably not an {A,C,G,T} sequence encrypted with keyed Vigenere.

For {A,C,G,U} the situation is similar:

Code: Select all

a+a a+c a+g a+u c+c c+g c+u g+g g+u u+u
a   c   g   u   e   i   w   m   a   o

*   *   u+u u+u *   *   a+a a+a *   *   *   *
i   j   o   o   p   y   a   a   t   t   z   b

*   *   c+g *   *   c+c *   a+g a+g *   *   a+a
q   k   i   p   y   e   r   g   g   j   q   a

Boy, I learned something playing Maddison Atkins

[Luminous]

And as a check to see if it's keyed Vigenere, the lookup table for {A,C,G,T} Vigenere-encrypted with {A,C,G,T} is:

Code: Select all

a+a a+c a+g a+t c+c c+g c+t g+g g+t t+t
a   c   g   t   e   i   v   m   z   m

so the ciphertext we've got is:

Code: Select all

*   *   *   *   *   *   a+a a+a a+t a+t g+t *   
i   j   o   o   p   y   a   a   t   t   z   b

*   *   c+g *   *   c+c *   a+g a+g *   *   a+a
q   k   i   p   y   e   r   g   g   j   q   a

If this was an {A,C,G,T} sequence encrypted with keyed Vigenere, the "*"s above would disappear after a while (once the passphrase runs out). Since they don't, this is probably not an {A,C,G,T} sequence encrypted with keyed Vigenere.

For {A,C,G,U} the situation is similar:

Code: Select all

a+a a+c a+g a+u c+c c+g c+u g+g g+u u+u
a   c   g   u   e   i   w   m   a   o

*   *   u+u u+u *   *   a+a a+a *   *   *   *
i   j   o   o   p   y   a   a   t   t   z   b

*   *   c+g *   *   c+c *   a+g a+g *   *   a+a
q   k   i   p   y   e   r   g   g   j   q   a

Boy, I learned something playing Maddison Atkins

Wow! good work mouse!

[ignatzmouse]

Wow! good work mouse!

Thanks. Pity it didn't go anywhere.

[Luminous]

Wow! good work mouse!

Thanks. Pity it didn't go anywhere.

I wouldn't say that. You've eliminated an option. That's always progress. I've found, with these Facility J puzzles, that's how it goes. It's a process of elimination that sometimes takes days. This is an incredible analysis you've contributed.

Hmmm. Back to think about other possible attacks.

[ignatzmouse]

OK, next bit of cryptanalysis that doesn't get us a result...

If it's an {A,C,G,T} sequence that's Vigenere-encrypted (and the key is short enough to repeat, otherwise it's essentially one-time-pad and cryptanalysis isn't going to get us very far) then the key has to repeat eventually. The possible keys are:

Code: Select all

a ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa
c ghmmnwyyrrxzoignwcpeehoy 
g cdiijsuunntvkecjsylaadku
t pqvvwfhhaagixrpwflynnqxh

e.g. you can see in this table how "chimps" is a possible key for the beginning of the sequence, and produces plaintext "gcgcag".

Now, we try comparing this sequence with itself shifted right, to see if we can get a match. Nope. The nearest match I could get was:

Code: Select all

a ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa
c ghmmnwyyrrxzoignwcpeehoy 
g cdiijsuunntvkecjsylaadku
t pqvvwfhhaagixrpwflynnqxh

          a ijoopyaattzbqkipyerggjqa
          c ghmmnwyyrrxzoignwcpeehoy 
          g cdiijsuunntvkecjsylaadku
          t pqvvwfhhaagixrpwflynnqxh
                           
            g-oipwyyrag-o-

Note that the shift is 10, so we're looking for a length 10 key, and how exciting, the key actually repeats at the right point. Indeed trying the key "gboipwyyra" produces the plaintext "ciagaccccttaccttagagaics" which is very close to a DNA sequence, but a miss is as good as a mile. Oh, and gboipwyyra is gibberish as well, not much to do with storms, stars, etc.

I tried this for U rather than T and also got gibberish for that.

Hmm, I guess I could try doing this all again for {I,K,O,Y} but my head hurts too much right now.