Help please by the "NEWSGROUP Cipher" challenge

the_impaler · Post by **the_impaler** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 12:33 pm

Just take a walk to your local public library. Ask for a book about computers and InterWeb, and don't try to look smarter than you are.

touetoue · Post by **touetoue** » Sat Nov 01, 2008 11:31 pm

ok... i'm not tryng to look smarter than i am... actually i do just the opposite... i make myself look dumber than i am... (and i am most likely smarter than you... not in certain areas of course... but overall probably... although i don't usually say that (and there is no way i'd ask for your help again) and i wouldn't be asking this unless i had no other way of finding out... so if you're smart enough to infer what i'm saying they didn't have anything on "usenet" >:[ >:{ )
can anybody BESIDES "the_impaler" tell me where i can find one (i'm still looking... if i find it by myself thanks to everybody who actually wanted to try and help (although most of you have already helped me more than i thought you would've... so if you don't want to help me find a site... than can you politely tell me that you don't want me 2 (email would be nice (toughbeinggreen@hotmail.com) but if you A.) don't want to e-mail me or B.) just want to say it on here... it's ok) (if any/all of you are getting pissed at me because i happen to be having a hard time on this... just say that you don't want to help me)
(sorry to everybody but "impaler" for the length of this message

)

the_impaler · Post by **the_impaler** » Sun Nov 02, 2008 2:06 am

Oh, sorry for insulting you. I was actually trying to say "go to the library and pretend to be dumb". Not that you are posing something here, on the forum. I personally couldn't find any computer related books in the library that are up to current matters but plenty of the old books - like "DECNet 4 for dummies"

Andr3w · Post by **Andr3w** » Thu Nov 06, 2008 11:21 am

I think that you haven't to go to your public library searching in old stuff named "book" ^^

all important hints are given here in this thread ...

search for usenet, newsgroups, and the number "13"

its really easy ... won't take you 5 mins

touetoue · Post by **touetoue** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 2:08 am

ok... sorry impaler but that was what i thought u meant... so i was thinking u were trying to make me feel dumb and stop going on here...
and thanks other guy... i'm not good at finding clues when they're seperated by huge parts that confuse me in between clues (it's hard to find useful info in random stuff... i'm good at logic... but not comprehension... sorry... so i really am smart (around an IQ of 160-180... or so says the tests

... but when writting i'd rather write fast than write smart) (i cann't be sure of how those tests are... but they all pretty much say the same thing.)
so now thanks to all (and now 50% more impaler... up from 0 of last message...) and sorry to all for my incompetence on that one thing...

NIC.Kino · Post by **NIC.Kino** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 1:26 am

Hey I´m new here, finding the clues are hard if you are new to the computer too.. But if you do a deeper annalysis to the words..... you kinda figure it all out..Is very hard for some.... yet, funny

xreflex · Post by **xreflex** » Mon Aug 24, 2009 6:14 pm

i have read up on ciphers and looked up newsgroups 13 and still i cannot figure this 1 out help plz

Acidcore · Post by **Acidcore** » Fri Mar 12, 2010 10:42 pm

I'd say only that it's encrypted with ROT-13. That is even more than telling you the answer.
I hope i didn't breake the rules saying the system.

liuking · Post by **liuking** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 12:58 pm

Just Try to focus on the only number

laz0r · Post by **laz0r** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 1:31 pm

The type of code used here is called a "substitution cipher". This basically means that each letter is represented by another letter. For example:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z A

This is known as a "caesar shift" as the alphabet is shifted along by x terms. The above is shifted by 1. Using this we can encode the simple message "test123".

T E S T 1 2 3
becomes:
U F T U 1 2 3

There are other forms of substitution ciphers such as monoalphabetic ciphers which has a random alphabet. ie:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Q W E R T Y U I O P A S D F G H J K L Z X C V B N M

<snip>

In following the rules of the forums I can not explain any more, but if you are still struggling then just ask.

Karian · Post by **Karian** » Mon Mar 15, 2010 4:07 pm

laz0r wrote:In following the rules of the forums I can not explain any more, but if you are still struggling then just ask.

I got the feeling you already explained too much. It is almost a step by step guide how to solve it.

Those puzzles start easy for a reason. If you can't get trough them, you won't be able to get through the following once. If you couldn't find the solution with the hints already given, you probably will never find on your own, and maybe they should conclude that this site doesn't contain the things they are looking for.

Why was there recently made a post in this thread anyway with giving 'hints'. The last post was made more than half a year ago. Or the person that couldn't solve this puzzle has given up, and isn't anymore around, or he already passed this challenge and didn't bother to notify everyone in this thread.

EDIT: Corrected some spelling mistakes.

laz0r · Post by **laz0r** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 11:12 am

Karian wrote:
laz0r wrote:In following the rules of the forums I can not explain any more, but if you are still struggling then just ask.
I got the feeling you allready explained too much. It is almost a step by step guide how to solve it.

Those puzzles start easy for a reason. If you can't get trough them, you won't be able to get trough the following once. If you couldn't find the sollution with the hints allready given, you probably will never find on your own, and maybe they should conclude that this site doesn't contain the things they are looking for.

Why was there recently made a post in this thread anyway with giving 'hints'. The last post was made more then half a year ago. Or the person that couldn't solve this puzzle has given up, and isn't anymore around, or he allready passed this challenge and didn't bother to notify everyone in this thread.

Fair enough, but what I posted steered them in the right direction. By the way, could you learn to spell as well please?

Karian · Post by **Karian** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 11:01 am

laz0r wrote:By the way, could you learn to spell as well please?

I'm trying to do my best, but since English is only the third language I learned, I'm not that familiar with the spelling. Most of my experience with English comes from watching English television series, and they usually don't have subtitles to learn the correct spelling.

But I think we are starting to get a bit off-topic over here.

CodeX · Post by **CodeX** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:51 pm

English is my native language and I still can't spell it, trick is to use Firefox's spell checker (right click a text area and choose a language, you might have to install some)

doglitbug · Post by **doglitbug** » Mon Mar 22, 2010 9:38 am

i never been in usenet or newsgroups and still got this straight away, must been lucky. rot-10(from a previous post) is something they dont tell u about in schools

hacker.org

Help please by the "NEWSGROUP Cipher" challenge

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