Cryptography, Code Breaking, Help

[+the bonecacher]

A lot of caches require some kind of cryptography, code breaking, encoding, ciphers, decrypting something that I have know idea about. How do you work these out?? Any help would be great.

[+El Diablo]

They vary from code to code. There is no common decoder.

 

El Diablo

[+Rogue_monkey]

google is a wonderful tool for some of these caches. it has helped me before.

[+papade]

A lot of caches require some kind of cryptography, code breaking, encoding, ciphers, decrypting something that I have know idea about. How do you work these out?? Any help would be great.

Did you have any specific caches you are looking at?

[+the bonecacher]

This one

 

GCHJDT

 

& this one

 

GCJ145 & GCGX6R

Edited September 13, 2004 by the bonecacher

[+Prime Suspect]

They vary from code to code. There is no common decoder.

 

El Diablo

Then you haven't read Digital Fortress.

[+9Key]

hjdt is pretty easy. It follows the same "original" waypoint numbering system as this website, me thinks.

 

Email me about the other two if you want hints, but the owner of the cache would be the preferred contact. I bet they would be more than willing to lend a hand.

Part of the fun of placing a puzzle cache is helping people solve the puzzle, IMO.

[+Fireman78]

Read "The DaVinci Code" and you will be at one with the force (of code-breaking)

[+E = Mc2]

I use The Black Chamber to help me decode some caches. Now if I could just find something to help decode the caches where all they use are numbers!

[+nfa]

I use The Black Chamber to help me decode some caches. Now if I could just find something to help decode the caches where all they use are numbers!

Hi,

 

Thanks for the link...cool site!

 

Have you visited the listing for a crypto-cache in my area, Rupert's Cash Cache? There is a $100 USD FTF prize that has yet to be claimed.

 

nfa

 

ps - earlier google was mentioned as a resource for cryptography...how?

Edited September 13, 2004 by NFA

[+Rogue_monkey]

it was listed because i have seen codes from certain things that can be found on the internet.

as an example a cache in my area used a code that was from an author of many books using this code. went on the net searched for the author and the style of code came up and was use to break the other code.

[+nfa]

thanks

[+SixDogTeam]

The black chamber has worked for us!

[+flask]

I use The Black Chamber to help me decode some caches. Now if I could just find something to help decode the caches where all they use are numbers!

Hi,

 

Thanks for the link...cool site!

 

Have you visited the listing for a crypto-cache in my area, Rupert's Cash Cache? There is a $100 USD FTF prize that has yet to be claimed.

 

nfa

 

ps - earlier google was mentioned as a resource for cryptography...how?

jamie, stop plugging that darm thing! we're out here busting our butts to get it solved and if some johnnie-come lately grabs it due to advertising, i'll be SOME toasted. let people have to do the same work i'm doing, and that includes finding out about it. OY.

 

WHEN i get it solved, i am cutting out of work early and i'm droppign everything like a bad habit and i'm coming over there. my car is packed.

 

now stop soliciting.

[+Enspyer]

They vary from code to code. There is no common decoder.

 

El Diablo

Then you haven't read Digital Fortress.

So, have you read Cryptonomicon?

 

If you like Digital Fortress you'll like that one too.

 

On Topic: I'll add to the recommendation of The Black Chamber.

[+fizzymagic]

Then you haven't read Digital Fortress. 

Just to be sure that every knows, Prime Suspect is joking. Digital Fortress has the most bogus math of any book I have ever read; the Da Vinci Code is only marginally better. Clearly, math and science are not Dan Brown's strong suit.

 

If you really want to learn about the (relatively recent) history of codebreaking, I recommend Battle Of Wits by Stephen Budianksy. Also, The Puzzle Palace is a reasonable book about the NSA. And Venona is a fascinating account of real-world cryptanalysis with real-world consequences.

[+Mudfrog]

I went to the local library to find out information on solving ciphers for a couple of caches over in Houston. Surprisingly, the books i found most helpful were all in the children's section. You can find alot of that info on the web as well. Either place, just search for "ciphers" and you will come up with some helpful results.

[virgo91967]

this site list might be of help Cryptography.org

 

Oh, And the shameless plug for MY new cypher cache

ENIGMATIC (GCKEWX)

 

 

Also, there is something in code and cipher braking called a "crib" a crib is a character sequence that represents words that MUST be in the plaintext message. common cribs I have noticed with cipher-caches are : all the numeric words ( one, two, three,...) Degrees, Minutes, longitude, latitude, geocaching, cache, North, South, East, and West.

 

I hope these will; be of much help

Edited September 14, 2004 by virgo91967

[+Prime Suspect]

Then you haven't read Digital Fortress. 

Just to be sure that every knows, Prime Suspect is joking. Digital Fortress has the most bogus math of any book I have ever read; the Da Vinci Code is only marginally better. Clearly, math and science are not Dan Brown's strong suit.

 

If you really want to learn about the (relatively recent) history of codebreaking, I recommend Battle Of Wits by Stephen Budianksy. Also, The Puzzle Palace is a reasonable book about the NSA. And Venona is a fascinating account of real-world cryptanalysis with real-world consequences.

I don't read thrillers for the math. Like a good SF story, I'm willing to provide some suspension of disbelief, and just enjoy the story. I didn't let the errors about the GPS tracker device in Da Vinci Code deter me from enjoying it.

 

And I can't believe you didn't recommend the classic of codebreaking books, Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park. A fascinating read about the UKs code breakers during WWII.

[+Brian - Team A.I.]

Fiction is just that...and for a reason.

[+nfa]

I use The Black Chamber to help me decode some caches. Now if I could just find something to help decode the caches where all they use are numbers!

Hi,

 

Thanks for the link...cool site!

 

Have you visited the listing for a crypto-cache in my area, Rupert's Cash Cache? There is a $100 USD FTF prize that has yet to be claimed.

 

nfa

 

ps - earlier google was mentioned as a resource for cryptography...how?

jamie, stop plugging that darm thing! we're out here busting our butts to get it solved and if some johnnie-come lately grabs it due to advertising, i'll be SOME toasted. let people have to do the same work i'm doing, and that includes finding out about it. OY.

 

WHEN i get it solved, i am cutting out of work early and i'm droppign everything like a bad habit and i'm coming over there. my car is packed.

 

now stop soliciting.

Hi Flask,

 

you have some competition...50 watchers the last I checked, and I've been getting emails from someone in CA...don't worry, no hints will be given until we get to a year out or so...my own belief is that it will take years to crack, and it will land me (I mean the author ) a job with the NSA.

 

nfa

Edited September 15, 2004 by NFA

[UndercoverNinja]

Couple of other crypto reference books...

 

"The Code Book" by Simon Singh - good history and explanation of the math concepts

 

"Codes and Ciphers (and other clandestine cryptographic communications)" - I can't remember the author, but it's about four inches thick, black dust jacket, probably sitting on a "Similar Interests" table near The DaVinci Code at Barnes and Noble. Just ask a bookseller...it was something like 12 bucks and it covers everything from hieroglyphics to semaphore to RSA data encryption. It even has practice exercises in the back!

 

There's also another one that's been re-released in paperback, it's just titled "Cryptography" and I think the author is William James, but I'm not 100% on that. It's written from a WWII perspective, so it doesn't go into developments post-Enigma. Also has practice exercises in the back that cover ciphers more than codes.

 

Good Google search phrase: "coded messages" - should get you just about all the cipher and code references you need. "cipher messages" might get you some different sites...generally, phrases including some combination of "code", "cipher", "message", or "method" should net quite a few hits.

 

this has been one of my more persistent hobbies over the last few months...

[+Bjorn74]

No one's solved this cache yet. I think it's being overanalyzed. I'm pretty sure that the code is outside most of the usual forms. It's certainly differant than the others in my pantry.

 

BTW, I have the whole phrase from the clue on a Tshirt. I've only gotten weird looks and questions. Last Saturday at the Cloak & Dagger event in Medina, OH, I had a lot of "I do {that}!". What's weird is that the first one was an elderly Walmart Photo Lab Tech. That was scary. She wanted to talk about clocks and watches. I had to get North.

[virgo91967]

MOC...knocs me out of trying to solve, even thjough I doubt I would be able to travel to get the ftf

[+Bjorn74]

Sorry about that. The key is:

 

On the ground near the Osage Orange Trees are 5 plaques. Using these plaques, the clues below and your noggin', you'll find a micro container that has a log for you to excitedly sign. I will require an email with the answer to an extra question for you to log this cache online. It's probably going to be too easy to brute force this and bypass the puzzle.

 

Find the northern-most plaque. Look for the word "Hopewell". This is the 19th word on the plaque. It's numerical equivalent is 171. Look for the numerical equivalent of the 6th word on the 8th line of this plaque. Add this to the numeric value of the 10th word on the 5th line. This will complete the last 3 digits of the second stop on this tour.

 

It continues on, but that should give you the basics. There is actually enough there to figure the key. Stop by sometime to log and solve!