Stay tuned for winners and more contests!
Hi everybody! It’s been a whirlwind around here, and in all the rush of fall we never did get around to announcing the prize for Puzzle #10: The L33t Pill. So here it is:
First place: $150 Cash (w00t!)
Second place: A hollow spy half-dollar!
Since we only just announced the prize, we’re moving the submission deadline to January 3, 2012. Bust out your forensics kung-fu over winter break and find the secret ingredient to the L33t Pill! May the best solution win. 
Oct 112011
Our popular DEFCON 2011 puzzle is now open for public competition! This six-round puzzle is our best challenge yet. Since the answers to the puzzle have been released, this challenge now has a twist: The winner will be the person who submits the MOST ELEGANT solution.
WARNING: This contest contains off-color humor which may not be appropriate for the classroom, children, rodents, etc.
The lead chemist of a high-profile pharmaceutical company was involved in a serious accident, leaving him in a coma days before the release of the company’s highly publicized “133t pill.” The chemist was the only person in possession of the list of ingredients required to produce the wonder drug, and it is not known if he will ever recover. All chemical evidence of the drug has been destroyed, but the company believes that the missing ingredients may have been stored electronically. You have been hired as a forensic investigator, to recover the final ingredient of their 133t pill. Can you find the missing ingredient?
Prizes To Be Announced! Deadline is 11/22/11 (11:59:59PM UTC-11) (In other words, if it’s still 11/22/11 anywhere in the world, you can submit your entry.) Please use the Official Submission Form to submit your answers.
Remember, the MOST ELEGANT solution wins. The answers to this puzzle have already been published; now your job is to demonstrate excellent ways to solve it. In the event of a tie, the entry submitted first will receive the prize. Coding is always encouraged. We love to see well-written, easy-to-use tools which automate even small sections of the evidence recovery. Graphical and command-line tools are all eligible. You are welcome to build upon the work of others, as long as their work has been released under an approved Open Source License. All responses should be submitted as PLAIN TEXT. Microsoft Word documents, PDFs, etc will NOT be reviewed. Feel free to collaborate with other people and discuss ideas back and forth. You can even submit as a team (there will be only one prize).
Here’s a link to the encrypted contest volume:
Defcon2011-Contest.tc
SHA256 CHECKSUM:
6906e4a08bd498c6ff78928b1c8d292a9f89f2ecfac60094528f4497e2254474
The Defcon2011-Contest.tc is an encrypted password-protected Truecrypt volume. Inside are six individual Truecrypt archives which each contain a single round of the contest. You will need to mount each encrypted volume using Truecrypt before you can access its contents. Here is a page which shows you how to mount a Truecrypt volume.
The password to unlock Defcon2011-Contest.tc is: !#$h1d3&&s33k$#!
The password to unlock round1 is: r0und1g0!!
At DEFCON, when a team found the answer to a round, they texted it to Headquarters (HQ). If their answer was correct, staff texted back the key to unlock the next round.
SPOILER ALERT: You can find the keys to each of the encrypted volumes here.
SUPER SPOILER ALERT: For your convenience, we’ve also unlocked all the rounds for those of you who just want to play around with individual round puzzles without having to solve the whole thing in order. You can find the individual round puzzles here:
Round1
Round2
Round3
Round4
Round5
Round6
SUPER DUPER SPOILER ALERT: Here are the ANSWERS TO THE PUZZLE. Remember, your job is to come up with the MOST ELEGANT solution.
Exceptional solutions will be published on this site with full attribution. We are happy to link to your site if you intend to maintain an up-to-date version of your tool. Exceptional submissions may also be used as examples and tools in the Network Forensics course and book, with full attribution. By submitting your answer to this puzzle, you agree that your code submissions will be freely published under the GPL license, and your solution’s text will be licensed according to the Creative Commons v3 “Attribution” License. All authors will receive full credit for their work.
Deadline is 1/3/12 (11:59:59PM UTC-11) (In other words, if it’s still 1/3/12 anywhere in the world, you can submit your entry.) Please use the Official Submission Form to submit your answers.
Good luck!!!
This puzzle was created by Scott Fretheim, Randi Price, Eric Fulton, Sherri Davidoff, and Jonathan Ham (Lake Missoula Group, LLC).
Copyright 2011, Lake Missoula Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
Sep 072011
Network Forensics Puzzle Contest #8 posed a serious challenge, requiring contestants to demonstrate an advanced knowledge of protocols and meticulous attention to detail. Thank you to everyone who submitted an entry for Puzzle #8, and a special congratulations to the relatively small number of folks who submitted correct answers.
The winner of this contest is…Stefan S. Op de Beek ! Stefan wins a Buffalo Wireless Router for his correct answers and UTScapy test script. While the script didn’t work perfectly on my system, it is a great example of leveraging existing frameworks to analyze packet captures. Contestants, answers, and solutions below.
Contestants:
Joerg Gerschuetz
Winter Faulk
Aaron Wamapch
Kazunori Kojima
Adam Jenkins
Steeve Barbeau
Tyler Dean
Ward Perry
J-Michael Roberts
Anthony
Stefan S. of de Beek
Answers:
1) Joe’s WAP is beaconing. Based on the contents of the packet capture, what are the SSID and BSSID of his access point?
SSID: Ment0rNet
BSSID: 00:23:69:61:00:d0
2) How long is the packet capture, from beginning to end (in SECONDS – please round to the nearest full second)?
A: 414s
3) How many WEP-encrypted data frames are there total in the packet capture?
$ tshark -r evidence08.pcap -R ‘((wlan.fc.type_subtype == 0×20) && (wlan.fc.protected == 1)) && (wlan.bssid == 00:23:69:61:00:d0)’|wc -l
A: 59274
4) How many *unique* WEP initialization vectors (IVs) are there TOTAL in the packet capture relating to Joe’s access point?
$ tshark -r evidence08.pcap -R ‘(wlan.bssid == 00:23:69:61:00:d0) && wlan.wep.iv’ -T fields -e wlan.wep.iv | sort -u | wc -l
A: 29719
5) What was the MAC address of the station executing the Layer 2 attacks?
A: 1c:4b:d6:69:cd:07
6) How many *unique* IVs were generated (relating to Joe’s access point):
a) By the attacker station?
$ tshark -r evidence08.pcap -R ‘(wlan.bssid == 00:23:69:61:00:d0) && (wlan.sa == 1c:4b:d6:69:cd:07) && wlan.wep.iv’ -T fields -e wlan.wep.iv|sort -u|wc -l
A: 14133 (14132 also accepted)
b) By all *other* stations combined?
$ tshark -r evidence08.pcap -R ‘(wlan.bssid == 00:23:69:61:00:d0) && (wlan.sa != 1c:4b:d6:69:cd:07) && wlan.wep.iv’ -T fields -e wlan.wep.iv|sort -u|wc -l
B : 15587
7) What was the WEP key of Joe’s WAP?
$ aircrack-ng -b 00:23:69:61:00:d0 evidence08.pcap
A: D0:E5:9E:B9:04
8.) What were the administrative username and password of the targeted wireless access point?
username: admin
passphrase: admin
9) What was the WAP administrative passphrase changed to?
passphrase: hahp0wnedJ00
This year’s DEFCON contest was a huge success, with over 200 teams entering! The contest was split up into six rounds of increasing difficulty. The first team to complete all six rounds won the contest. Now that the contest is over, we’re placing the materials here for folks who would like to play around on their own.
WARNING: This contest contains off-color humor which may not be appropriate for the classroom, children, rodents, etc.
The lead chemist of a high-profile pharmaceutical company was involved in a serious accident, leaving him in a coma days before the release of the company’s highly publicized “133t pill.” The chemist was the only person in possession of the list of ingredients required to produce the wonder drug, and it is not known if he will ever recover. All chemical evidence of the drug has been destroyed, but the company believes that the missing ingredients may have been stored electronically. You have been hired as a forensic investigator, to recover the final ingredient of their 133t pill. Can you find the missing ingredient?
Here’s a link to the encrypted contest volume:
Defcon2011-Contest.tc
SHA256 CHECKSUM:
6906e4a08bd498c6ff78928b1c8d292a9f89f2ecfac60094528f4497e2254474
The Defcon2011-Contest.tc is an encrypted password-protected Truecrypt volume. Inside are six individual Truecrypt archives which each contain a single round of the contest. You will need to mount each encrypted volume using Truecrypt before you can access its contents. Here is a page which shows you how to mount a Truecrypt volume.
At the start time, DEFCON attendees visited the contest booth to obtain the first decryption passwords, provided below:
The password to unlock Defcon2011-Contest.tc is: !#$h1d3&&s33k$#!
The password to unlock round1 is: r0und1g0!!
When a team found the answer to a round, they texted it to Headquarters (HQ). If their answer was correct, staff texted back the key to unlock the next round.
SPOILER ALERT: You can find the keys to each of the encrypted volumes here.
SUPER SPOILER ALERT: For your convenience, we’ve also unlocked all the rounds for those of you who just want to play around with individual round puzzles without having to solve the whole thing in order. You can find the individual round puzzles here:
Round1
Round2
Round3
Round4
Round5
Round6
A few notes:
1. You will not get the correct answer simply by running “strings” on the packet captures. It is more complicated than that.
2. Please do not attempt to brute-force the answer by guessing. We reserve the right to cut you off from submitting answers if you abuse the privilege.
3. There are six contest rounds containing six evidence files. You must analyze the evidence files in order to answer the question(s) which go along with each capture.
Have fun!
This puzzle was created by Scott Fretheim, Randi Price, Eric Fulton, Sherri Davidoff, and Jonathan Ham (Lake Missoula Group, LLC).
Copyright 2011, Lake Missoula Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
Over 200 teams entered the Network Forensics Puzzle Contest at DEFCON 19. Five teams were able to finish the challenge during the DEFCON conference. Congratulations to this year’s winning team: “5154c”! It was a really close match. Each of the top three teams came in only 15 minutes apart. We really hope all of you enjoyed competing, and we look forward to seeing you again next year!
Top Ten Finalists at DEFCON 19:
1. 5154c (Winner!)
2. C2 eye
3. Barnhaus Crew
4. ArchMage
5. PSKL
6. Team Cheese
7. 8008
8. Team Moosey Fate
9. Chippendales
10. Kyle Bragle
Copyright 2011, Lake Missoula Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
Aug 162011
Here are the answers to Puzzle #9: Ann’s Deception (DEFCON 2011):
- Round 1 Decryption Key: r0und1g0!!
In this capture we were looking for the name of the company. This is located inside an email.
Answer: Factory-Made-Winning-Pharmaceuticals
- Round 2 Decryption Key: !n1c3?w0rk
In this capture we were looking for the date of a speech given by Bruce Schneier. To solve this puzzle you must carve out a packet capture which was sent as an email attachment. Inside that packet capture, you can find the data by looking through the web traffic to see the pages Ann viewed.
Answer: October 6-7, 2011
- Round 3 Decryption Key:?g3tting!t0ugh
In this capture we were looking for Romulus’s password. This can be found by carving out the VOIP conversation and listening to it.
Answer: rom127#
- Round 4 Decryption Key: m4k1ng?pr0g
In this packet capture we were looking for the name on the 16th line in a spread sheet. To find the answer, you need to carve out the SMB transfer of the 7zip file containing the credit card file. In order to unlock the 7zip file you will need to use the password YOU found in Round 3.
Answer: Jason Wilson
- Round 5 Decryption Key: 0v3r#h4lf?w4y
In this packet capture, you need to carve out the SMB file transfer of the ingredients list. To unlock the 7zip file containing the ingredients list, you will need to use the password you found in in Round 4.
Answer:8.4 oz- Red Bull; Tim
- Round 6 Decryption Key: ch33rs!0n3$m0r3
Round 6 requires you to find the final ingredient of the 133t pill. To unlock the volume, you must use the cipher along with the previous answers from Rounds 1-5. Begin by solving the cipher, and then use the cipher as the password to unlock the Truecrypt volume.
Cipher Solution: 00gmu1rt#?
Answer: 2oz Vodka 
Copyright 2011, Lake Missoula Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
Aug 022011
1) Joe’s WAP is beaconing. Based on the contents of the packet capture, what are the SSID and BSSID of his access point?
SSID: Ment0rNet
BSSID: 00:23:69:61:00:d0
2) How long is the packet capture, from beginning to end (in SECONDS – please round to the nearest full second)?
414s
3) How many WEP-encrypted data frames are there total in the packet capture?
59274
4) How many *unique* WEP initialization vectors (IVs) are there TOTAL in the packet capture relating to Joe’s access point?
29719
5) What was the MAC address of the station executing the Layer 2 attacks?
1c:4b:d6:69:cd:07
6) How many *unique* IVs were generated (relating to Joe’s access point):
a) By the attacker station?
14133
(We also accept 14132, as one of the IVs was *generated* by another station, and only *replayed* by the attacker’s station. See my comment #4 below.)
b) By all *other* stations combined?
15587
7) What was the WEP key of Joe’s WAP?
D0:E5:9E:B9:04
8.) What were the administrative username and password of the targeted wireless access point?
admin:admin
9) What was the WAP administrative passphrase changed to?
hahp0wnedJ00
We are totally psyched for DEFCON 19! The Network Forensics Puzzle Contest (NFPC) will be running in the contest area. Watch our DEFCON forum for updates this week. Prizes include a Verizon 3g Network Extender and $150 ThinkGeek gift certificate (many thanks to ThinkGeek for sponsoring that prize).
To whet your appetite even more, check out the hot new graphic on the DEFCON 19 NFPC CD, designed by Mr. Scott Fretheim:
|
Players can pick up their CDs at the contest booth starting Thursday @ 10:00 AM. The contest will officially start on Friday. (Of course, we’ll post the contest materials online afterwards, too, so everyone can check out the latest challenge, just for fun.
Cheers! |
Jul 312011
Here is the solution to Puzzle #7: Ann’s Dark Tangent (DEFCON 2010). There are many ways to arrive at the solution. Here is our method; there are other tools you can use to reach the same answer.
You received a CD containing, among other things, a packet capture: evidence-defcon2010.pcap
Check the MD5 sum:
$ md5sum evidence-defcon2010.pcap 7c416421a626600f86e3702df0cac8ef evidence-defcon2010.pcap
If you examine the packet capture, you will see that it contains WEP-encrypted wireless traffic.
Crack the WEP key. You can do this using aircrack-ng in less than one second:
$ aircrack-ng evidence-defcon2010.pcap Opening evidence-defcon2010.pcap Read 426642 packets. # BSSID ESSID Encryption 1 00:1C:10:B3:CC:F0 w00t WEP (98923 IVs) Choosing first network as target. Opening evidence-defcon2010.pcap
Once you have the WEP key, use it to decrypt the traffic:
$ airdecap-ng -w 4A:7D:B5:08:CD evidence-defcon2010.pcap Total number of packets read 426642 Total number of WEP data packets 187650 Total number of WPA data packets 0 Number of plaintext data packets 0 Number of decrypted WEP packets 187650 Number of corrupted WEP packets 0 Number of decrypted WPA packets 0
If you run strings on the packet capture (or view it in Wireshark), you will see IMAP and SMTP traffic, including an email with an attachment. This attachment is the key to the entire puzzle.
Dark Tangent, I know you've been watching me. You should be able to figure out the = location of our rendezvous point from my traffic. Contact me first with = the name of the city where we will meet, and you win
Carve out the email attachment. You can do this manually, or use the smtpdump tool by Franck Guénichot from Contest #2.
The email attachment is a GIF image, shown below:
There were five lines in the image, which read (from top to bottom):
App Store - App Name Podcast Title YouTube Video Title Google Earth City Name AIM Buddy Name
If you go through the packet capture, you will find that Ann used her iPad to:
- Download the iPad app called “Solitaire”
- Download and watch an Onion podcast called “Onion Radio News for Kids”
- View a YouTube video called “Cry for Help – Rick Astley”
- Search on Google Earth for “Hacker Valley, West Virginia”
- IM her buddy, “inter0pt1c”
Line all the answers up, as shown in the GIF image, and read down the first column:
- Solitaire
- Onion Radio News for Kids
- Cry for Help
- Hacker Valley
- inter0pt1c
The answer is “SOCHI”, a resort town in Russia where the winter Olympics will be held.
Thanks to everyone who played!
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