The thing is, those are all static pages (https://terminal.blackmesasource.com/public/index.php, https://terminal.bmrf.us/ and https://localdesertsingles.com/)
They are printing that, so nothing (except editing the page itself) will change that.
Also, on this one (https://terminal.blackmesasource.com/public/index.php), there isn’t any IP table, so no matter from where you connect, it will always show that. I believe somebody tried to connect using New Mexico proxy, but it didn’t change anything.
I’d advice against this:
(That’s on the first page of this thread.)
If there’s anything to “hack”, we shouldn’t need to do it by actual, real hacking but only… “fake” hacking. You know, like in movies. “Oh hey, a terminal! I only need to whizzle my fizzbum, and then… BAM! I’m in!” - and spoofing an IP sounds like it’s about on par with decrypting, tech-wise. Actual real hacking of the machines on which the game is run, however…
Edit:
I think it’s not a coincidence that we’ve got all these website claiming we’ve got to try later. KXBM comments? Try again later. Local desert singles? Try again soon. BMRF terminal? Try again later. I’m thinking we’re missing a piece of the puzzle, and these websites won’t open up until we’ve got it. As JohnNotJohn’s saying, the story seems to be driven by us… and this is backed up by posts from 0418_08151814, in particular this one (emphasis mine):
Maybe, rather than finding the answers to the puzzles, we should be looking for who or what is creating them. In fact, this line from the KXBM article struck me as perhaps being directed at us:
I’ve written (with help of code online) a short java tool to decrypt with Benaloh but you have to put it in Eclipse or something like that. It’s only the code:
[code]import java.math.BigInteger;
public class Benaloh {
//Code to decrypt
private static BigInteger halos;
public static BigInteger decrypt(BigInteger ch, BigInteger ph, BigInteger qh, BigInteger rh, BigInteger yh){
BigInteger nh=ph.multiply(qh);
//Objects created for encryption don’t necessarily contain the private key
if(ph==null || qh==null)
return null;
BigInteger exp=ph.subtract(BigInteger.ONE).multiply(qh.subtract(BigInteger.ONE)).divide(rh);
BigInteger dexp=null;
BigInteger ymp1q1=ch.modPow(exp, nh);
//Find if m is zero. By construction we have y^exp is not congruent to 1 mod n, since u^phi(n) mod n is 1, then y^exp
//can only be 1 iff m=0. (y^0)*u^phi(n) mod n
if(ymp1q1.equals(BigInteger.ONE))
return BigInteger.ZERO;
//The decryption will be done using exhaustive search
for(BigInteger m=BigInteger.ONE;m.compareTo(rh)<0;m=m.add(BigInteger.ONE)){
dexp=m.multiply(exp);
if(ymp1q1.equals(yh.modPow(dexp, nh)))
return m;
}
return null;
}
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
//HalOS 752 Hex Code Mystery
halos = new BigInteger("b32b003a35badd66577c24c14fc919064346d131a7c54bb82ffe03e022615777247923dc21f62cd4182e91c3b267b545abcaedaf0261510d4eea1e87cd33c7c77131309cc4280eb4243d1154f044f9cf6296d9bff7397e4390987fe63203da0de40278b3...", 16);
//You have to set r, p, q and y before it can be started
BigInteger r = new BigInteger("1111"); // blocksize r
BigInteger p = new BigInteger("1111"); // prime with greatest common divisor of (p-1/r and r) = 1
BigInteger q = new BigInteger("1111"); // prime with greatest common divisor of (q-1 and r) = 1
BigInteger y = new BigInteger("1111"); // number with y^( ((p - 1) * (q - 1)) / s ) mod (p * q) != 1 (s are the prime divisors of r. The formula has to apply to all of the divisors)
//Public key is (r, n, y) with n = p * q
//Private key is (p, q)
System.out.println("The decrypted halos file: " + decrypt(halos, p, q, r, y));
}
}[/code]
Thing is, terminal.blackmesasource.com or terminal.bmrf.us looks a lot like a proper SSH output. It also says “bmesaroot”, so I figured it could a proper SSH address, with user bmesaroot and one of the passwords from what we found in the scope of ARG. It’s not hacking if you’re not bruteforcing. It’s, again, not hacking if we get in by using passwords from the ARG.
Seperate users can be set up for SSH access that can only reach certain directories within the system and can easily be used for ARG purposes that way. Similar things have happened in Portal 2 ARG. So that’d be the fake hacking as you mentioned.
Also, terminal.bmrf.us, bmrf.us, terminal.blackmesasource.com are pointing towards the same host, because I got banned from SSH for using one too many wrong passwords, and I can’t reach any of these, not even through my browser.
One other Thing about this “21 into 1” On the kxbm article, the author wears a purple hat so I went digging around some RGB code Tables and “21” comes in an RGB Triplet that has nearly the same color of these Purple Hats.
Color Name: MediumVioletRed
RGB Triplet: 199;21;133
Hex: C71585
The color resulting when I do “21 into 1” is nothing big the color doesn’t change here are the Values:
RGB Triplet: 199;1;133
Hex:C70185
How about we take a look from the site of colors, RGB values can be prime numbers.
From which SSH you got banned??
Mabye the 752 hex is a key to something else , because the clue “PRIMESITECOMPROMISEDRETURNBMRFLOGINHALOS” says to use HALOS as a login , possibly meaning the HALOS file.
752 hex is too long for any encryption.
Not as a key for an encryption, but for something else, such as a password for a website or something similar
whut
It’s too long for encryption methods like DES. I don’t know of anything that could use 3008 bits.
That makes more sense… However all of these static web pages would make it impossible to enter a password.
For those of you wishing to start guessing at passwords, I have tried the following plaintext keys, case sensitive, with DES, 3DES, and all key-length and block-size combinations of AES/Rijndael and TwoFish available in Cryptools:
- benalohpaillier
- congratulationsyouwonthePIZZA
- niobium
- biodome
- zeropointenergyfieldmanipulator
- encode
- submit
- secure
- encodesubmitsecure
- youshouldbringpizzas
- ThEpIzZaIsaLiE
- classifiedinformationleveleight
- macroscalequantumsystems
- tenacious
No of these produced any results. All of these tests were carried out in ECB mode on the first 192 characters (96 bytes) of the code, suitable for all encryption methods mentioned above. This was done to eliminate the possibility of an incomplete block within the code. I plan to extend this method to the other modes, using the last section of the code as the initialization vector. For good measure, I will also repeat these tests with the first section of the code used as the IV, as well as a number of other planned manipulations that I will discuss after testing.
Moving on to new theories regarding the storyline, I’ve started looking into the differences between the various IRC Clues. These are some notable observations:
- IRC Clues 1 and 4 include a proxy address extension -164
- IRC Clues 3 and 5 include a proxy address extension -155
- IRC Clue 6 and HALOS.txt include a proxy address extension -345
- IRC Clues 1, 3, and 5 conclude with [Terminal.] prior to the [Transmission Ends.]] present in most of the IRC Clues
- IRC Clue 5 and HALOS.txt are notably written in ALLCAPS outside of the inner code, distinguishing them from the other clues
- IRC Clue 3 is written in a form similar to a telegram, designating [STOP] at the end of sentences, and concluding with [End Transmission]
- IRC Clue 2 lacks any of the formatting present in the other clues
Additionally, while all clues excluding 2 begin with [Incoming Transmission] and end with [Transmission Ends], only 3, 4, 5, and HALOS.txt contain an inner code beginning with an OTR designation and/or concluding with [End Transmission].
Based on these observations, I suggest we look into the context of the transmissions. Who is sending them? Who is the receiver? It is likely that more than one individual is sending–or receiving since someone might be intercepting these transmissions. Additionally, these entities may not necessarily by human.
By looking into this, it may be possible to better understand what the 752 hex code is supposed to be, who encrypted it, who received it, and–most importantly–what we need to do with it.
On a possibly unrelated note, I recently played through the mod again, and happened to notice the addition of a small tunnel between QE and ST. This addition, like most other changes to QE, was done by Storm himself, and notably includes a door leading to “Black Mesa Transit System: Sector E - Biodome: Platform 1.” This notably corresponds to the “Platform 2” Mentioned in the specimen transfer note on the budget whiteboard. This suggests that the transfer would have occurred using the personnel tram system from Inbound, rather than the materials transit system from OaR. I am not sure of the implications of this distinction.
My apologizes for the length and poor organization of this post. I felt it necessary to get my recent activities, observations, and theories into the open in order to move the discussion along. I will continue developing these theories and post any conclusions I reach.
As a general word of advise, please highlight and quote individual sections of this post when replying, in order to improve readability.
As for story, while I still believe the websites and terminals are for a later part of the ARG (“This unlocks at the start of the end”), at least some the Base64 filenames (and morse) seem to be storyline clues. Perhaps to push us back on track. For instance:
- Fat lot of good that Ph.D does me now
- I’ve been waiting here for ages, hoping someone would come along!
- Get us out of here before those military drones find out where we’re hiding
- DE AI5BM AI5BM AI5BM BLACK MESA RESEARCH FACILITY BIODOME LABS. TRAPPED, NEED RESCUE. EVAC ZONE NOT SAFE. MILITARY HOSTILE K
- I can see you already know a great deal more than any one man is supposed to.
- The science team has been tracking your progress with the Black Mesa security system. Unfortunately, so is the military.
In particular, note: “where we’re hiding”, suggesting there’s multiple people (or entities), but also “I’ve been waiting” which suggests there’s only one person. The morse code’s specification of “biodome labs” suggests that’s where they’re hiding. Unless the morse code was not sent by whoever wrote the other messages, but received: remember, the source has a message saying “Get away from there, Freeman! I’m expecting an important message” (not in Base64, though). In that case, we don’t know where the source of the other messages is, nor who sent the morse code.
Additionally, “Fat lot of good that Ph.D does me now” reminds me of a screenshot I came across. The portrait of Dr. C. Horn on the wiki main page is found in-game next to his framed degree, correct? I bet he’s not the only researcher there with a Ph.D, but it might be a hint. If it really is him, it suggests Dr. Horn is one of the people hiding out in the biodome labs.
Also note that the first and third of the quotes I mentioned above are apparently the only two without a . (or ? / !) at the end out of all the Base64 names. I checked a few and it seems this was not just a wiki editing error. It might be nothing, or perhaps it suggests they’re written by someone other than whoever (whatever?) wrote the other messages.
The line about knowing “more than any one man is supposed to” seems meaningful, somehow. You’d think for someone in dire need of help, and seemingly asking him for help, knowing more about the situation would be a good thing. This message doesn’t sound like whoever wrote is it all too happy with it, though.
Last but not least, the last line above (about the science team and military both tracking progress) reminds me of the “something is constantly watching this all from the shadows” line. You’d think both the science and military would be addressed with “someone” rather than “something” though, so I’m not sure what to make of this.
So yeah. In short: I’m trying to push this whole storyline thing because it seemed to have been important once (over 2 years ago) and never seemed to have led anywhere. That makes me believe it’s still on our to-do list. On the other hand, I hope all these old hints from Storm are not outdated and he’s gone off into an entirely different direction, because we got too stuck and made no progress, or whatever (after all, the websites seem to have been “unlocked”, in a way?). In that case: I’m sorry? =3
I was attempting to log on to terminal.blackmesasource.com, but it was a system wide ban that blocked me from terminal.blackmesasource.com, terminal.bmrf.us and bmrf.us (no redirection, no response)
Also thanks for the passwords.
This is almost entirely out of the blue, but with the reference to Dante’s Inferno on the TOR page, and the fact that HALOS.txt references level 8, is it not entirely impossible that we are dealing with this? I know little of programming languages, and I’m doubtful this is even close, but its worth a shot. I also want to see someone actually try this.
I would totally try this, but I’m having issues finding a decryption tool online for it. It seems to fit, at least with the eighth circle of hell reference and the Malbolge Unshackled possibly referring back to the “cage for Satan” message, but I’d be hesitant to put too much effort into something that seems a far stretch.
Couldn’t level 8 literally mean level 8, as in Questionable Ethics? Maybe there’s something there that we are missing?
I did a recent playthrough of the mod from the start to finish (on hard, no less) and did some thorough searching around QE. I mentioned my discovery of Platform 1 ( of 2, judging by the note on the budget whiteboard) in an earlier post. I also noticed that there was a console scrolling through a list of elements (and cubemaps), the last of which was Niobium.
The only console I found with this on it was in the control room of aquatics, in Lab B. Interestingly, this room should be directly below one of the classified labs.
I also found the secret room under the stairs where code C plays on the radio. Pretty interesting stuff in that room.
(I also sent the hat to Xen without cheating)
Cubemaps, you say? Isn’t the guy in the secret room very cubic? Hmmm . . . .
Did you happen to find any cases while you were there?
Re: Malbolge: I’m pretty sure it’s not something you decrypt, but either compile or interpret, as it is an esoteric programming language and not an encryption method. And I like how you came up with it, I never would’ve made that link. However… it’s without question one of the most messed up (if not the most) programming languages ever conceived. I very much doubt it is used in this ARG, as writing anything properly is insanely hard and I doubt Storm (or anyone near him) has the capabilities of doing so. Like, for reals, yo. Apparently even Brainfuck is child’s play compared to Malbolge. I googled “hardest esoteric programming language” and the wikipedia article for Malbolge came out on top.
I can’t be sure, but I think cubemaps are a Source engine concept.
Also, why does a cubic dummy have “Die Freeman” scrawled on the wall and a secret escape hatch on the floor?