🧩 Newbie puzzles ! 🧩 Solve one and get the MERIT you deserve 🏆

[Rizzrack]

Not sure if this will be a thing or not but just thought it would be fun...

Question 1:

01100100 00110010 01101000 01110110 01001001 01000111 00110001 01110000 01100010 01101101 01010110 01101011 01001001 01000101 01001010 01010101 01010001 01111001 01000010 01101001 01100010 01000111 00111001 01101010 01100001 01111001 01000001 01111001 01001110 01111010 01001001 01111010 01001101 01101010 01011001 01100111 01011001 01010111 00110101 01101011 01001001 01001000 01100100 01101111 01011001 01011000 01010001 01100111 01100100 00110010 01000110 01111010 01001001 01001000 01010010 01101111 01011001 01011000 01010001 01100111 01011001 01101101 01111000 01110110 01011001 00110010 01110011 01101110 01100011 01111001 01000010 00110011 01011010 01010111 01101100 01101110 01100001 01001000 01010001 00111101

[SOLVED] by Diplester6666 in this post.
Explanation
Question 2:

Code:

5wUP8bK2gm91cAcRa5wCXm89Rx91nrx8sCBYsGGghYcaDeWyJtUnejg8mEwYjUnRegSEJ7qPpmDh5fVyMmdL4KUtKxxNV7ycgb1FcGH9SCvpNGmWmiAYexUqdC8gzuH69cauBVcnFVsps2EWKw8QnVkP1Vv5Do1nGYujGPbyHo3nqVcf56USwaQud7ezCiZS8mt6pMnkkoqrpWQCqvc78p3KQKXeBnAj8h7YadRh2rqvBi96hM1sfjk5jaQqbHKwLnhETi7ZpGMCcrZpTw3rdMfSdUnkXGQMs2SkCuEURoutBGYentNN6UBPTwitJEuk95VDADjBizVjfxkqaCtFh1R

[SOLVED] by BitcoinIsABubble in this post.
Explanation
Question 3 (more of a challenge actually than a question) :

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Tjho uijt nfttbhf: "Xf bsf bmm tbuptij fydfqu gps DTX" vtjoh uif tbnf beesftt J bn (1K7neh5scRzVIFOZey39XWXL7gtMqFpYAz)
-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----
1J7mdg5rbQyUHENYdx39WVWK7fsLpEoXZy
IDt1vr8Ahx4Yt3Rm5zfvwbGIis7MrpSDNx8ev6inxMr+NB8CWOHoTPVeujlfYMpsW58Txp1scaxXY5WtNQhbS94=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----

[SOLVED and EXPLAINED] by BitcoinIsABubble in this post.
Question 4:

Who sings this song?

00stulowe 00Leopold Martynov 0moonchkins 00Hydroponica 00doaseric  00stulowe 00Leopold Martynov 00natostanco 00zhouguilxy 0linh09 00vyjhfguyhfy 00zimbodog 00jk1234 0leeuwtje 00zhouguilxy 0leeuwtje 00vyjhfguyhfy 00zhouguilxy 0boopathy4613 00zimbodog  00stulowe 00natostanco 00doaseric 00doaseric 0ethioninja  00stulowe 00natostanco 00natostanco 0moonchkins 00vyjhfguyhfy 00Hydroponica 00vyjhfguyhfy 00jk1234 00Hydroponica  00stulowe 00marvel212 00Hydroponica 00zhouguilxy 0leeuwtje 0ethioninja

[SOLVED and EXPLAINED] by PhoenixZephyrus in this post.
Question 5:

Upload the below image to imgur or a similar service and post it here:

NB2HI4DTHIXS65DFPB2GE2LOFZXGK5BPOFRWI2DPMF2GMZDQ

[SOLVED and EXPLAINED] by myself in this post.
Question 6:

for (i = 3):
     type(X) == string
     print(X) =

[SOLVED] by decodx in this post.
Explanation
Question 7: Soon^TM

[1715049208]

1715049208

[NeuroticFish]

I you need to explain exactly what you mean, like the way ognasty explain for signing of message and encryption message before newbies started using his step to apply, i know newbies will be difficult to understand what you want them to do, break it down for people to understand, you can add some explanation there, like to make a little brief about the coding, so if you don't want to do it like that, know that it can't be answerable by newbies

He doesn't need to explain anything. Actually I'm almost there, I should look up the "last bit of information", but I'll stop and let others who may need merit more to find the answer.
It takes less than 5 minutes if you know what to do/what to look for.

[GiftedMAN]

Not sure if this will be a thing or not but just thought it would be fun...

Question:

01100100 00110010 01101000 01110110 01001001 01000111 00110001 01110000 01100010 01101101 01010110 01101011 01001001 01000101 01001010 01010101 01010001 01111001 01000010 01101001 01100010 01000111 00111001 01101010 01100001 01111001 01000001 01111001 01001110 01111010 01001001 01111010 01001101 01101010 01011001 01100111 01011001 01010111 00110101 01101011 01001001 01001000 01100100 01101111 01011001 01011000 01010001 01100111 01100100 00110010 01000110 01111010 01001001 01001000 01010010 01101111 01011001 01011000 01010001 01100111 01011001 01101101 01111000 01110110 01011001 00110010 01110011 01101110 01100011 01111001 01000010 00110011 01011010 01010111 01101100 01101110 01100001 01001000 01010001 00111101

To be honest, am lost trying to figure out what this is all about,I wish you can help us with some explanation maybe it will help newbies like me to understand clearer and better.

[Diplester6666]

OK, I got -
d2hvIG1pbmVkIEJUQyBibG9jayAyNzIzMjYgYW5kIHdoYXQgd2FzIHRoYXQgYmxvY2sncyB3ZWlnaHQ=

Now thinking what to do with this information next.

[Rizzrack]

OK, I got -
d2hvIG1pbmVkIEJUQyBibG9jayAyNzIzMjYgYW5kIHdoYXQgd2FzIHRoYXQgYmxvY2sncyB3ZWlnaHQ=

Now thinking what to do with this information next.

You're on the right track !
It is nice of you to post the current findings. Will give 1 merit only to the newbie that gives the final answer though  

Keep going, you're almost there !

[Diplester6666]

Answer:
BTC block 272326 was mined by F2Pool and the weight was 65884

[Rizzrack]

Answer:
BTC block 272326 was mined by F2Pool and the weight was 65884

That is correct ! Well done sir  
The question was: "who mined BTC block 272326 and what was that block's weight" and it was encoded in base64 and the result was encoded in binary (that's what you saw 10101001101101101).
You just had to reverse the process !

Stay tuned for new questions ! ... didn't think of a next one yet  

[Diplester6666]

THANK YOU for the merit sir! I enjoyed solving the puzzle as much as I enjoyed receiving the merit. Have a good day, sir!

[BernyJB]

Alright, I got the question. How did you get the answer?

[Lafu]

Not sure if this will be a thing or not but just thought it would be fun...

Thats a nice thing and i am more surprised that somebody already managed to get the right answer !
Well done Rizzrack , and i guess that some kind of questions like this one will be good to get new Users into researching about it.
Hopefully we will see more in the future like this one here.

[Rizzrack]

Thats a nice thing and i am more surprised that somebody already managed to get the right answer !

I was more surprised a user named dataispower said it was too hard  
IMO it was pretty easy. This is a bitcoin forum after all... not World of Warcraft so I assumed the correct answer will be give sooner rather than later

Well done Rizzrack , and i guess that some kind of questions like this one will be good to get new Users into researching about it.
Hopefully we will see more in the future like this one here.

Thanks! Have a few ideas... Will post the next one sometime this weekend

[JeromeTash]

Alright, I got the question. How did you get the answer?

@Rizzrack already answered it, though you might not understand what he said

So let me try simplifying it for you.

If you see the code OP posted. The first thing on your mind is a binary code. (If you have some little computer science Knowledge like me, you will instantly sense this)

So you have to decode the code to text using a tool like this: https://www.convertbinary.com/to-text/

The text output you get is on base64 format.

Code:

d2hvIG1pbmVkIEJUQyBibG9jayAyNzIzMjYgYW5kIHdoYXQgd2FzIHRoYXQgYmxvY2sncyB3ZWlnaHQ=

So you have to decode the base64 format to readable text using a tool like this: https://www.base64decode.org/

You will end up with this text

Code:

who mined BTC block 272326 and what was that block's weight

Use block explorers like blockchair.com, and you will end up with the answer by searching for Bitcoin block 272326

https://blockchair.com/bitcoin/block/272326

[decodx]

<...>

This was a great puzzle, I like this kind of thing.
Unfortunately, since it was mentioned in the title that it is only for newbies, I didn't even try to solve it. Maybe next time.

[sheenshane]

Alright, I got the question. How did you get the answer?

Since it's already answered I will disclose to you how they got it.
It's a Binary code and here's how to translate the Binary code to text.
( https://www.morsecodeninja.com/binary.html )

Now, translate this to Binary text,

01001110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101111 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110100

[pakhitheboss]

I enjoyed solving it too. Expecting more puzzles like this one on this board @Rizzrack

Since it's already answered I will disclose to you how they got it.
It's a Binary code and here's how to translate the Binary code to text.
( https://www.morsecodeninja.com/binary.html )

Just do a general google search using the keyword Binary to Text and you will get multiple websites offering this service for free.

[StormHawk]

Alright, I got the question. How did you get the answer?

Since it's already answered I will disclose to you how they got it.
It's a Binary code and here's how to translate the Binary code to text.
( https://www.morsecodeninja.com/binary.html )

Now, translate this to Binary text,

01001110 01101111 01110111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100111 01110110 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101111 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110100

Now you've got it

[acroman08]

-snip

thanks for explaining it in a layman's term. although I knew that what Rizzrack posted was a binary code I never knew that you can simply decode it by using a simple tool. I always thought decoding a binary code you'd have to do it manually which I think would be hard or would take a lot of time. again, thanks for explaining it.

[NeuroticFish]

IMO it was pretty easy. This is a bitcoin forum after all... not World of Warcraft so I assumed the correct answer will be give sooner rather than later

It was indeed a very nice puzzle for anybody having a bit of knowledge about the "internals".
I mean that although indeed it's a Bitcoin forum, far too many don't know what base64 is and also far too many don't know what to do with a list of binary digits.

So my advice is to make also puzzles for those with no IT background, or at least tell that those without a bit of IT background may "have difficulties"
Still, it was a nice one

[aysg76]

It was indeed a very nice puzzle for anybody having a bit of knowledge about the "internals".
I mean that although indeed it's a Bitcoin forum, far too many don't know what base64 is and also far too many don't know what to do with a list of binary digits.

So my advice is to make also puzzles for those with no IT background, or at least tell that those without a bit of IT background may "have difficulties"
Still, it was a nice one

Yeah people who are not aware about say base64 encoding or decoding might face difficulty in solving this puzzle as you said who are not from IT background could have trouble solving these puzzles.Although i would say binary is more known to people as they have learnt that 0-1 is computer understandable low level language basically termed as binary but after steps might be confusing.

But still members could feel it interesting to solve while making efforts to learn about new things through this also so nice efforts by the @OP to start something which is helpful in learning new things to newbies.So make such puzzles for them to engage them more.

[BernyJB]

You will end up with this text

Code:

who mined BTC block 272326 and what was that block's weight

Use block explorers like blockchair.com, and you will end up with the answer by searching for Bitcoin block 272326

https://blockchair.com/bitcoin/block/272326

That's what I wanted to know! Thank you!
I had already gotten the question (who mined BTC block...). I use https://paulschou.com/tools/xlate/, but didn't know about the block explorers...

[Fivestar4everMVP]

This is really a nice puzzle, and it's fun, I Initially was confused with the question cus just like the first reply, I didn't see the question, I was like what am I to do with the code?

If you don't have any computer knowledge and asked yourself the same question above, then what you would have done is simply copy the code and paste it on Google search, you will get results like the screenshot below, atleast, that would have given you a head start, have this in mind incase another question comes up 😉😉.

[Rizzrack]

Question 2:

Code:

5wUP8bK2gm91cAcRa5wCXm89Rx91nrx8sCBYsGGghYcaDeWyJtUnejg8mEwYjUnRegSEJ7qPpmDh5fVyMmdL4KUtKxxNV7ycgb1FcGH9SCvpNGmWmiAYexUqdC8gzuH69cauBVcnFVsps2EWKw8QnVkP1Vv5Do1nGYujGPbyHo3nqVcf56USwaQud7ezCiZS8mt6pMnkkoqrpWQCqvc78p3KQKXeBnAj8h7YadRh2rqvBi96hM1sfjk5jaQqbHKwLnhETi7ZpGMCcrZpTw3rdMfSdUnkXGQMs2SkCuEURoutBGYentNN6UBPTwitJEuk95VDADjBizVjfxkqaCtFh1R

[Rizzrack]

Question 2:

Code:

5wUP8bK2gm91cAcRa5wCXm89Rx91nrx8sCBYsGGghYcaDeWyJtUnejg8mEwYjUnRegSEJ7qPpmDh5fVyMmdL4KUtKxxNV7ycgb1FcGH9SCvpNGmWmiAYexUqdC8gzuH69cauBVcnFVsps2EWKw8QnVkP1Vv5Do1nGYujGPbyHo3nqVcf56USwaQud7ezCiZS8mt6pMnkkoqrpWQCqvc78p3KQKXeBnAj8h7YadRh2rqvBi96hM1sfjk5jaQqbHKwLnhETi7ZpGMCcrZpTw3rdMfSdUnkXGQMs2SkCuEURoutBGYentNN6UBPTwitJEuk95VDADjBizVjfxkqaCtFh1R

Any takers to find the answer to this "weird looking" question ?

[NeuroticFish]

Any takers to find the answer to this "weird looking" question ?

Imho the answer can be "any Ripemd-160 hash", and from there I'm a bit lost  
Also I hoped newer users will have better answers.


Edit: nice answer, BitcoinIsABubble, you've just got 2 more merits from me!

[BitcoinIsABubble]

decode from base58 ->  encode to ASCII


What does the following sequence represent? 4405b78d6059e536c36974088a8ed4d9f0f29898

That's the first commit in the Bitcoin github - first version of bitcoin

https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commit/4405b78d6059e536c36974088a8ed4d9f0f29898

[Rizzrack]

decode from base85 ->  encode to ASCII


What does the following sequence represent? 4405b78d6059e536c36974088a8ed4d9f0f29898

That's the first commit in the Bitcoin github - first version of bitcoin

https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/commit/4405b78d6059e536c36974088a8ed4d9f0f29898

And we have another winner ! Good job !

Code:

5wUP8bK2gm91cAcRa5wCXm89Rx91nrx8sCBYsGGghYcaDeWyJtUnejg8mEwYjUnRegSEJ7qPpmDh5fVyMmdL4KUtKxxNV7ycgb1FcGH9SCvpNGmWmiAYexUqdC8gzuH69cauBVcnFVsps2EWKw8QnVkP1Vv5Do1nGYujGPbyHo3nqVcf56USwaQud7ezCiZS8mt6pMnkkoqrpWQCqvc78p3KQKXeBnAj8h7YadRh2rqvBi96hM1sfjk5jaQqbHKwLnhETi7ZpGMCcrZpTw3rdMfSdUnkXGQMs2SkCuEURoutBGYentNN6UBPTwitJEuk95VDADjBizVjfxkqaCtFh1R

decode from base58 (aka satoshi's version of base64) and you would get

Code:

57 68 61 74 20 64 6F 65 73 20 74 68 65 20 66 6F 6C 6C 6F 77 69 6E 67 20 73 65 71 75 65 6E 63 65 20 72 65 70 72 65 73 65 6E 74 3F 20 34 34 30 35 62 37 38 64 36 30 35 39 65 35 33 36 63 33 36 39 37 34 30 38 38 61 38 65 64 34 64 39 66 30 66 32 39 38 39 38

decode from hex and you would get

Code:

What does the following sequence represent? 4405b78d6059e536c36974088a8ed4d9f0f29898

And YES, 4405b78d6059e536c36974088a8ed4d9f0f29898 is the id of the first bitcoin commit on github !

P.S. I removed your friend's proxy ban as a bonus  

P.S. 2

That's the first commit in the Bitcoin github - first version of bitcoin

More precisely the first version of bitcoin was posted on sourceforge. Since then there were many updates to the code until they started using github

[BitcoinIsABubble]

More precisely the first version of bitcoin was posted on sourceforge. Since then (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5.msg28#msg2Cool there were many updates to the code until they started using github

Oh wow, I didn't know that, pretty awesome to see the original thread here in the forum, thanks for sharing this gem <3

And thanks for unblocking my friend, we are actually coworkers and it might be due to using the same internet connection in the office.

[Rizzrack]

Challenge 4:

Code:

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Tjho uijt nfttbhf: "Xf bsf bmm tbuptij fydfqu gps DTX" vtjoh uif tbnf beesftt J bn (1K7neh5scRzVIFOZey39XWXL7gtMqFpYAz)
-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----
1J7mdg5rbQyUHENYdx39WVWK7fsLpEoXZy
IDt1vr8Ahx4Yt3Rm5zfvwbGIis7MrpSDNx8ev6inxMr+NB8CWOHoTPVeujlfYMpsW58Txp1scaxXY5WtNQhbS94=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----

[BitcoinIsABubble]

Challenge 4:

Code:

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Tjho uijt nfttbhf: "Xf bsf bmm tbuptij fydfqu gps DTX" vtjoh uif tbnf beesftt J bn (1K7neh5scRzVIFOZey39XWXL7gtMqFpYAz)
-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----
1J7mdg5rbQyUHENYdx39WVWK7fsLpEoXZy
IDt1vr8Ahx4Yt3Rm5zfvwbGIis7MrpSDNx8ev6inxMr+NB8CWOHoTPVeujlfYMpsW58Txp1scaxXY5WtNQhbS94=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----

 Tjho uijt nfttbhf: "Xf bsf bmm tbuptij fydfqu gps DTX" vtjoh uif tbnf beesftt J bn (1K7neh5scRzVIFOZey39XWXL7gtMqFpYAz) when you change every letter to the previous one in the alphabet becomes Sign this message: "We are all satoshi except for CSW" using the same address I am (1J7mdg5rbQyUHENYdx39WVWK7fsLpEoXZy)

I googled a bit and found the key to the address on the web, this way I could sign it. Depending on which one you sign there are two options:

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Sign this message: "We are all satoshi except for CSW" using the same address I am (1J7mdg5rbQyUHENYdx39WVWK7fsLpEoXZy)
-----BEGIN SIGNATURE-----
1J7mdg5rbQyUHENYdx39WVWK7fsLpEoXZy
IJyM+uen9fi8xTwaPyI/737LzFoz+xAztMkUjC8/gjuJNqxgolh56/IP7oIT802Q2Vme1ed/Og5+p6HsRVcvHX4=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----


-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
We are all satoshi except for CSW
-----BEGIN SIGNATURE-----
1J7mdg5rbQyUHENYdx39WVWK7fsLpEoXZy
H3AwrGkQBaPNGY6+om6+RG3IXi/4er+7DdkFyFY4e7KWKu8eEgWY889zkaFWPsP23BEDnxxWczoyGwTGBF769NU=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----

[Rizzrack]

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
We are all satoshi except for CSW
-----BEGIN SIGNATURE-----
1J7mdg5rbQyUHENYdx39WVWK7fsLpEoXZy
H3AwrGkQBaPNGY6+om6+RG3IXi/4er+7DdkFyFY4e7KWKu8eEgWY889zkaFWPsP23BEDnxxWczoyGwTGBF769NU=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----

You're on a roll ! Well done!
Gotta get more creative with the next one  

P.S.

... when you change every letter to the previous one in the alphabet becomes ...

This encoding method is named the Caesar cipher. It is believed this was the way Julius Caesar himself encoded sensitive messages

[Markinzo]

 Am not sure I know whatever is going on here. But my mind tells me that whatever it is must be, must be very relevant. But unfortunately my ignorance impede me.

So I hope am ain't making a mistake by asking what's this about, from the question to even the expected answer?
Thanks!

[Rizzrack]

Am not sure I know whatever is going on here. But my mind tells me that whatever it is must be, must be very relevant. But unfortunately my ignorance impede me.

So I hope am ain't making a mistake by asking what's this about, from the question to even the expected answer?
Thanks!

Thought to award some newbies with merit if they decipher my little puzzle questions. Either if they have the knowledge or learned a few things to figure it out. I know I learned a thing or two while making the questions  

[Rizzrack]

Question 4:

Who sings this song?

00stulowe 00Leopold Martynov 0moonchkins 00Hydroponica 00doaseric  00stulowe 00Leopold Martynov 00natostanco 00zhouguilxy 0linh09 00vyjhfguyhfy 00zimbodog 00jk1234 0leeuwtje 00zhouguilxy 0leeuwtje 00vyjhfguyhfy 00zhouguilxy 0boopathy4613 00zimbodog  00stulowe 00natostanco 00doaseric 00doaseric 0ethioninja  00stulowe 00natostanco 00natostanco 0moonchkins 00vyjhfguyhfy 00Hydroponica 00vyjhfguyhfy 00jk1234 00Hydroponica  00stulowe 00marvel212 00Hydroponica 00zhouguilxy 0leeuwtje 0ethioninja

[Rizzrack]

Hint #1

00stulowe...

[PhoenixZephyrus]

Question 4:

Who sings this song?

00stulowe 00Leopold Martynov 0moonchkins 00Hydroponica 00doaseric  00stulowe 00Leopold Martynov 00natostanco 00zhouguilxy 0linh09 00vyjhfguyhfy 00zimbodog 00jk1234 0leeuwtje 00zhouguilxy 0leeuwtje 00vyjhfguyhfy 00zhouguilxy 0boopathy4613 00zimbodog  00stulowe 00natostanco 00doaseric 00doaseric 0ethioninja  00stulowe 00natostanco 00natostanco 0moonchkins 00vyjhfguyhfy 00Hydroponica 00vyjhfguyhfy 00jk1234 00Hydroponica  00stulowe 00marvel212 00Hydroponica 00zhouguilxy 0leeuwtje 0ethioninja

Well here's what I could get till now

Get the uid from each of the usernames >> we get a binary text >> convert it to ASCII and get "47a984720d165e0e10c64288f422a191594390ef"

Now that seems like a SHA-1 or Ripe-md 160 hash maybe? Not sure how to proceed but that's a clue I guess.

[Rizzrack]

Well here's what I could get till now

Get the uid from each of the usernames >> we get a binary text >> convert it to ASCII and get "47a984720d165e0e10c64288f422a191594390ef"

Now that seems like a SHA-1 or Ripe-md 160 hash maybe? Not sure how to proceed but that's a clue I guess.

So far so good !

Hint #2: that code is SHA1. You have to find out the string that produced that hash by what ever means you see fit and you can give the correct answer

[PhoenixZephyrus]

So far so good !

Hint #2: that code is SHA1. You have to find out the string that produced that hash by what ever means you see fit and you can give the correct answer

But from what I know, SHA-1 is a one way hash right? It isnt possible to decrypt it without maybe brute forcing? Because thats what the hash is meant to be - irreversible?
From what I know, SHA-1 uses a modulo math operator in one of its steps, thus it isn't possible to uniquely identify the original value from which that hash came from.

For example, using a bit of modular arithmetic,

Code:

5 % 5 = 0
10 % 5= 0

Thus its not possible to get whether the original input was 10 or 5 just by having 0 and knowing that we have performed x % 5. This is my understanding...

Is it possible to decrypt a SHA-1 hash? (Stackoverflow)

Unless I'm missing something here...

[nc50lc]

But from what I know, SHA-1 is a one way hash right? It isnt possible to decrypt it without maybe brute forcing? Because thats what the hash is meant to be - irreversible?
-snip-
Unless I'm missing something here...

Yes, you're correct, there's no way to reverse it aside from bruteforce.

But there's only about 600million song titles out there,
just make a database of all the songs titles, create a simple code to perform SHA1 to each of the titles (and probably variations of them) and a typical computer can bruteforce it within a few minutes/hours.
Then you can get 1 merit 

[Rizzrack]

But from what I know, SHA-1 is a one way hash right? It isnt possible to decrypt it without maybe brute forcing?

You are 99% correct.

But there's only about 600million song titles out there,
just make a database of all the songs titles, create a simple code to perform SHA1 to each of the titles

That would be 10 Merit worthy IMO !!!
But what if there already existed such databases somewhere... food for thought  

[PhoenixZephyrus]

But what if there already existed such databases somewhere... food for thought  

There do exist databases for songs but I doubt any such database is nearly complete. I'll take a look though, just because I like solving puzzles and I was learning about hashing the other day in my Algorithms class

EDIT: Okay the only one I could think of that had a dataset available was the Million Song Dataset, and I tried encoding all of the song title names to SHA-1 via some sqlite3 queries and python, and output that out to a csv file. But I couldn't find the hash that I had found in the previous step. My guess is that the database is some different one altogether, I guess I'll give it a few more tries later.

[Rizzrack]

Okay the only one I could think of that had a dataset available was the Million Song Dataset, and I tried encoding all of the song title names to SHA-1 via some sqlite3 queries and python, and output that out to a csv file. But I couldn't find the hash that I had found in the previous step. My guess is that the database is some different one altogether, I guess I'll give it a few more tries later.

Do not complicate the trivial !
Search engines are your friend  

P.S. probably did not find it due to uppercase letters or stuff like that. wrote the name of the song by hand and all lowercase

[PhoenixZephyrus]

Okay the only one I could think of that had a dataset available was the Million Song Dataset, and I tried encoding all of the song title names to SHA-1 via some sqlite3 queries and python, and output that out to a csv file. But I couldn't find the hash that I had found in the previous step. My guess is that the database is some different one altogether, I guess I'll give it a few more tries later.

Do not complicate the trivial !
Search engines are your friend 

P.S. probably did not find it due to uppercase letters or stuff like that. wrote the name of the song by hand and all lowercase

Ah its all lowercase. Then I would say the song is "Who Let The Dogs Out" by "Baha Men"

Method: Well I had already got the SHA-1 hash from the previous posts. Then I used the track_metadata from FMA Data for music analysis.

Then I wrote a short python code to get the SHA-1 hash name for each of the files and appended that with the track names. I wrote a pythonic script (instead of trying to find an online music search db) just because I wanted to check out some of its functions and also get familiar with some Capture The Flag contest method - this challenge was quite like some preliminary CTF contest
Here is the code:

Code:

import csv
import hashlib
import os.path

BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
db_path = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "songs.db")
file = open("C:\\hashes_tracks.csv", "w", encoding="utf-8")
with open("C:\\tracks.csv", "r", encoding="utf-8") as dataset:
    reader = csv.DictReader(dataset)
    for row in reader:
        name = row["title"].lower().strip()
        result = hashlib.sha1(name.encode())
        file.write(result.hexdigest() + name + '\n')

And then a simple search for the hash was enough to get the song name.
Proof that the hash matches

[Rizzrack]

Ah its all lowercase. Then I would say the song is "Who Let The Dogs Out" by "Baha Men"

Method: Well I had already got the SHA-1 hash from the previous posts. Then I used the track_metadata from FMA Data for music analysis.

Then I wrote a short python code to get the SHA-1 hash name for each of the files and appended that with the track names. I wrote a pythonic script (instead of trying to find an online music search db) just because I wanted to check out some of its functions and also get familiar with some Capture The Flag contest method - this challenge was quite like some preliminary CTF contest

And then a simple search for the hash was enough to get the song name.

You went the whole nine yards !
I assumed at some point someone would get to the SHA1 hash and try some websites with different databases like this one: https://hashes.com/en/decrypt/hash

But because you did it all on your own and also shared the repositories and code used ... 1 merit did not feel enough.

You may not be a newbie anymore but heck, it's my thread and I'll merit if I want to

P.S.
Morale of the story: do not use generic passwords because even if they are hashed we can still find the hash online and whip up a small piece of code that finds it in a minute or two !

[Kwsikh]

But from what I know, SHA-1 is a one way hash right? It isnt possible to decrypt it without maybe brute forcing? Because thats what the hash is meant to be - irreversible?
-snip-
Unless I'm missing something here...

Yes, you're correct, there's no way to reverse it aside from bruteforce.

But there's only about 600million song titles out there,
just make a database of all the songs titles, create a simple code to perform SHA1 to each of the titles (and probably variations of them) and a typical computer can bruteforce it within a few minutes/hours.
Then you can get 1 merit 

All things going out of my head if it was known by me then may be i also might be a Hero member!!

[BitcoinIsABubble]

Okay the only one I could think of that had a dataset available was the Million Song Dataset, and I tried encoding all of the song title names to SHA-1 via some sqlite3 queries and python, and output that out to a csv file. But I couldn't find the hash that I had found in the previous step. My guess is that the database is some different one altogether, I guess I'll give it a few more tries later.

Do not complicate the trivial !
Search engines are your friend 

P.S. probably did not find it due to uppercase letters or stuff like that. wrote the name of the song by hand and all lowercase

Ah its all lowercase. Then I would say the song is "Who Let The Dogs Out" by "Baha Men"

Method: Well I had already got the SHA-1 hash from the previous posts. Then I used the track_metadata from FMA Data for music analysis.

Then I wrote a short python code to get the SHA-1 hash name for each of the files and appended that with the track names. I wrote a pythonic script (instead of trying to find an online music search db) just because I wanted to check out some of its functions and also get familiar with some Capture The Flag contest method - this challenge was quite like some preliminary CTF contest
Here is the code:

Code:

import csv
import hashlib
import os.path

BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__))
db_path = os.path.join(BASE_DIR, "songs.db")
file = open("C:\\hashes_tracks.csv", "w", encoding="utf-8")
with open("C:\\tracks.csv", "r", encoding="utf-8") as dataset:
    reader = csv.DictReader(dataset)
    for row in reader:
        name = row["title"].lower().strip()
        result = hashlib.sha1(name.encode())
        file.write(result.hexdigest() + name + '\n')

And then a simple search for the hash was enough to get the song name.
Proof that the hash matches

Oh wow, good job there!

[Rizzrack]

Upload the below image to imgur or a similar service and post it here:

NB2HI4DTHIXS65DFPB2GE2LOFZXGK5BPOFRWI2DPMF2GMZDQ

[Rizzrack]

I'm starting to think you guys do not want/need merit !
Hint #1: it's not base58 or base64

Hint #2: if you would decode "NB2HI4DTHIXS65DFPB2GE2LOFZXGK5BPOFRWI2DPMF2GMZDQ" from base32 to text the output would be

https://textbin.net/qcdhoatfdp

Extra hint: 2 more steps and you can find the image !

[Rizzrack]

Upload the below image to imgur or a similar service and post it here:

NB2HI4DTHIXS65DFPB2GE2LOFZXGK5BPOFRWI2DPMF2GMZDQ

Decided to post the response since there were no takers this round !

How to solve:

Step 1: decode from base32 to text

Code:

NB2HI4DTHIXS65DFPB2GE2LOFZXGK5BPOFRWI2DPMF2GMZDQ

and you would get

Code:

https://textbin.net/qcdhoatfdp

Step 2: The code from the pastebin is too big to fit in the post so if you are curious check the link yourselves.
Symbols are HTML URL-encoded. So you would need to decode them first. "%3A" would be ":", "%2F" would be "/" etc.

Step 3: Decode from base64 to image. For example I used https://codebeautify.org/base64-to-image-converter



And it shows you the image !
Uploading it to imgur and posting it here should not require any further explanations  

[BitcoinIsABubble]

This was a tough one for me I admit, do you plan to release further challenges anytime soon?

[Rizzrack]

This was a tough one for me I admit, do you plan to release further challenges anytime soon?

To be honest I was a little bummed that there was no interest in the last one and kind of let it go for the moment...
Either way there are so many ways you can encode stuff and running dry on ideas. Will think about it and see if I can come up with a few more  

Anyone else is invited to chip in with a suggestion or an interesting question !

P.S. You also solved 2 of them so I might incline to add an extra rule about how many times you would be allowed to participate. Well done though 

[nc50lc]

-snip-
Anyone else is invited to chip in with a suggestion or an interesting question !

How about if N-days have passed and the puzzle isn't solved yet, open that round for all ranks instead of just newbies?
You can decide on the number of days.

[m2017]

-snip-
Anyone else is invited to chip in with a suggestion or an interesting question !

How about if N-days have passed and the puzzle isn't solved yet, open that round for all ranks instead of just newbies?
You can decide on the number of days.

I think this is a good intention and Rizzrack will support your proposal.

I like the idea of a thread like this, allowing beginners to learn something new about crypto. And as a bonus, get merit, which will also encourage them to be active. But most importantly, this interactive format allows to involve beginners in bitcoin world and allows to practically contact with it. It also has informational benefits for everyone who follows similar activities and reads the topic. Something similar is implemented in topic [Merit] Hey Newbies! Can You Sign A Message? I hope there will be more such forms of active involvement of newcomers in the future.

[nakamura12]

It would be good of the title is not newbie puzzles instead it should be Newbie friendly Puzzles. Though you may say that it is a newbie puzzles but what about those who doesn't have knowledge on what to do like binary codes for example. You can make this challenge the same as Pmalek's Word Game where newbies are given an advantage where they are the one who can participate first until the time runs out and then higher ranks can participate too if lower ranks can't find the answer or solution. Nice puzzles by the way.

[Bamjos]

Question 3 (more of a challenge actually than a question) :

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Tjho uijt nfttbhf: "Xf bsf bmm tbuptij fydfqu gps DTX" vtjoh uif tbnf beesftt J bn (1K7neh5scRzVIFOZey39XWXL7gtMqFpYAz)
-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----
1J7mdg5rbQyUHENYdx39WVWK7fsLpEoXZy
IDt1vr8Ahx4Yt3Rm5zfvwbGIis7MrpSDNx8ev6inxMr+NB8CWOHoTPVeujlfYMpsW58Txp1scaxXY5WtNQhbS94=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----

Code:

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Tjho uijt nfttbhf: "Xf bsf bmm tbuptij fydfqu gps DTX" vtjoh uif tbnf beesftt J bn (1K7neh5scRzVIFOZey39XWXL7gtMqFpYAz)
-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----
Version: Bitcoin-qt (1.0)
Address: 3K1AAUvgrYNH6Syp5e1zjqAWpe3dapBUPS

IFTQanseMw7GHwJKUzka0CxEV5XaHy2xcm+CflZrxzmlVwaeamI++5SqHPTYXZCvN04J7BW7Sou7cdp+qj0eXFc=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----

[Rizzrack]

How about if N-days have passed and the puzzle isn't solved yet, open that round for all ranks instead of just newbies?
You can decide on the number of days.

Not a bad idea !

Once I come up with a new one will try this out. Thanks 

Code:

-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Tjho uijt nfttbhf: "Xf bsf bmm tbuptij fydfqu gps DTX" vtjoh uif tbnf beesftt J bn (1K7neh5scRzVIFOZey39XWXL7gtMqFpYAz)
-----BEGIN BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----
Version: Bitcoin-qt (1.0)
Address: 3K1AAUvgrYNH6Syp5e1zjqAWpe3dapBUPS

IFTQanseMw7GHwJKUzka0CxEV5XaHy2xcm+CflZrxzmlVwaeamI++5SqHPTYXZCvN04J7BW7Sou7cdp+qj0eXFc=
-----END BITCOIN SIGNATURE-----

If you would have read the post you would have seen that it was already solved:

Tjho uijt nfttbhf: "Xf bsf bmm tbuptij fydfqu gps DTX" vtjoh uif tbnf beesftt J bn (1K7neh5scRzVIFOZey39XWXL7gtMqFpYAz) when you change every letter to the previous one in the alphabet becomes Sign this message: "We are all satoshi except for CSW" using the same address I am (1J7mdg5rbQyUHENYdx39WVWK7fsLpEoXZy)

You were supposed to sign it with the above address, not a random one you own.
Please read and think a bit before replying next time 

[Rizzrack]

Here's a brain teaser for y'all !


for (i = 3):
     type(X) == string
     print(X) =

[Rizzrack]

BUMP !

*Take it one step at a time. What do you think the above equation is ?

[Majestic-milf]

Answer(Q1)
 The quick brown fox jumps over 13 lazy dogs.

[DdmrDdmr]

Not sure about one thing here, and without giving it away (others should scoop the Merit reward), I can’t make out why the "-1" is there nor whether it is meant to be included in the summation or rather subtracted after it (the latter I believe, since it lacks brackets). I wouldn’t have thought it (the "-1") to be part of the original formula, but I may be wrong.

Note: If anyone wants to perform the calculus, you can easily do it on Excel (start with i=3 for a reason).

<...> It's about the meaning of subtracting 1 from the equation where i=3, not the calculation. And finding a "string" ...

I know, that's why I said "wants to" as opposed to saying it in a "needs to" context.

[Rizzrack]

Answer(Q1)
 The quick brown fox jumps over 13 lazy dogs.

Reddit did not help on this occasion. It was already solved and still gave a wrong answer. Damn...  

Not sure about one thing here, and without giving it away (others should scoop the Merit reward), I can’t make out why the "-1" is there nor whether it is meant to be included in the summation or rather subtracted after it (the latter I believe, since it lacks brackets).

Subtracted after the SUM  

I wouldn’t have thought it (the "-1") to be part of the original formula, but I may be wrong.

Note: If anyone wants to perform the calculus, you can easily do it on Excel (start with i=3 for a reason).

It's about the meaning of subtracting 1 from the equation where i=3, not the calculation. And finding a "string" ...

[Rizzrack]

for (i = 3):
     type(X) == string
     print(X) =

Hint #2: The string in question was written by F2Pool on May 11, 2020 7:23 PM UTC

[Rizzrack]

for (i = 3):
     type(X) == string
     print(X) =

Hint #2: The string in question was written by F2Pool on May 11, 2020 7:23 PM UTC

Hint #3: string = text = message

[decodx]

Hint #2: The string in question was written by F2Pool on May 11, 2020 7:23 PM UTC

Hint #3: string = text = message

Code:

R🐟NYTimes 09/Apr/2020 With $2.3T Injection, Fed's Plan Far Exceeds 2008 Rescue Mined ^H

https://blockchair.com/bitcoin/block/629999

I got that information from blockchain explorer, Is this what you're looking for?

[Rizzrack]

Code:

R🐟NYTimes 09/Apr/2020 With $2.3T Injection, Fed's Plan Far Exceeds 2008 Rescue Mined ^H

https://blockchair.com/bitcoin/block/629999

I got that information from blockchain explorer, Is this what you're looking for?

That is the correct answer !

Explanation:



So where i=3 would mean the third halving ==> block 630,000. But since the equation I wrote had a "-1" at the end that would mean block 629,999 

That block's coinbase transaction had a little message attached !