There are 64 characters on each line. The embedded text message also has 64 characters per line. Don't know if this helps or not....

Could this be DES or Triple DES encryption with the X`s as Punctuation or new paragraphs?

we could decrypt if if we could get the encryption key...

maybe it's hidden somewhere in the past clues.

I go to sleep and see what I miss. I think the 'x' are periods. But I have no idea how to decode the rest. I say remove the 'x' from the cyphertext. Interesting how the plain text is in the center and the code repeats itself twice. Looks like someone will have a ring soon. I think that the plain text suggests that if you put the URL in deep access it is going to ask for your mailing address and they will mail you the ring.

Well, it IS possible to crack DES without the key, NSA can do it (they also had some restriction about using DES when it's first came out, so that they will be able to decode it), though they probably cannot crack RSA (and it is impssible to crack quantum encryption) .

DES can be cracked with huge arrays of very powerful computers running special software. We never have the resources required to do this. We aren't even sure it is DES yet.

Originally posted by amantine
DES can be cracked with huge arrays of very powerful computers running special software. We never have the resources required to do this. We aren't even sure it is DES yet.

DES itself doesn't require that much computing power to crack. If everyone in here would pitch in some CPU cycles to pass keys over the text, I'm sure it wouldn't take more then a day.

If its Triple DES(3DES TRIDES and all of its other names) it'll be a different story.

DES is old and outdated, that and the fact it has a size and other limits on the key you can use, makes it a standard brute force run to crack these days.

Seeing that the groups of repetitive characters are mainly 6 chars long, I'd suggest Triple DES to be the encryption used.

I'm passing on part of the code to some crypto specialists I know. See if the x's have a function in the code.

Ok, I read some more and DES can be cracked in a few days on specialized computers. For a consumer computer:

The simpler method is to try to decrypt the block with all the possible keys. The information we have on the clear text will allow us to recognize the right key and to stop the search. In average, we will have to try 36'028'797'018'963'968 (36 millions of billions) of keys. Knowing that a common modern PC can check about one to two millions keys each second, this represents a work time of about 600 to 1200 years for a single machine.

Special computers can do this a lot faster:

An exhaustive search is quite time consuming for a single PC, but it is possible to do better. In 1998, the EFF (Electronic Frontier Fundation has built a dedicated machine ([10]) in order to show to the world that DES is not (or no more) a secure algorithm. Deep Crack, that's the name of the machine, costs $200'000 and is built with 1536 dedicated chips. Deep Crack is able to recover a key with the help of an exhaustive search in 4 days in average, checking 92 billions of keys each second. Knowing the budget of electronic intelligence agencies (for example, the National Security Agency in the USA), it is easy to be pessimistic on the security of DES against such organizations!

I hope you get some information from those cryptonanalists soon.

Originally posted by PurdueNuc

i have received confirmation from our other friends and locked t
heir encoded files into the sequence we discussed. we can decode
the files any time, they are buried in the usual places, requiri
ng the usual method for extraction. i've locked the extraction c
odes in concert with the decryption routine revealed when mine i
s located and ownership confirmed. we all thought this was the s
afest method to ensure only the proper shall gain access. when y
ou find the location of my virtual ring, enter the complete URL
combined with the item containing my virtual ring. Confirmation
will be requested, and the ring expedited to your specified loca
tion. combine as usual the inscription, to initiate the decrypti
on process that will unlock the sequence of clues from 2, 3,& 4.

thank you.

while the rest of you are busy playing with the numbers, I'll take this information and get started.

and if you find anything in the numbers, be sure to post it here! hah hah hah hah hah hah

EDIT: Ahh hell, -5- just posted while I was typing this and seems he confirmed my suspision that maybe the text is whats relevant, instead of the crypto. You should've posted sooner -5-, so I wouldn't have had to type all that!!! :p




[Edited on 27-5-2004 by thematrix]

-5- did make me look at that text again and it does include some interesting information:

i (..) locked their encoded files into the sequence we discussed

Maybe the senquence the files are in contains some information?