ARG Puzzle with 3.5 BTC Private Key Prize, Game Over

[S4VV4S]

Has anybody noticed the thread title changes? It goes from ARG Puzzle with 3.53 BTC Private Key Prize***** to ARG Puzzle with 3.5 BTC Private Key Prize

I did, I am guessing it is because of some "troll" transactions.....

[Remember remember the 5th of November]

Has anybody noticed the thread title changes? It goes from ARG Puzzle with 3.53 BTC Private Key Prize***** to ARG Puzzle with 3.5 BTC Private Key Prize

I did, I am guessing it is because of some "troll" transactions.....

It's been happening for a while now.

[Kangaderoo]

Just brightened the image for the overlay... haven't found a relevance yet........

[S4VV4S]

-snip-

Just brightened the image for the overlay... haven't found a relevance yet........

Focus elsewhere....
Just a suggestion

[mirth23]

Wow, lots in the last couple days. I'll have time to get back in this tonight.

As a side note, I'm a little shocked that Google completely obfuscated relevant text search results from me based on my profile; it said the correct phrase didn't appear ANYWHERE other than in this forum. I'll have to make sure I use a clean, anonymous browser for this sort of thing in the future.

[xELx]

Another thing about bit (.) ly addresses:

"Most bitly URLs are 4-6 characters, and only include letters and numbers (and are case sensitive)"


This is taken from the page that you land on if you enter an invalid url.

[moinen]

Another thing about bit (.) ly addresses:

"Most bitly URLs are 4-6 characters, and only include letters and numbers (and are case sensitive)"


This is taken from the page that you land on if you enter an invalid url.

bit . ly/you_can_also_define_your_own

[Gatekeeper]

If you take away the 2 yellow letters by the two yellow dots you get
bit.ly/mindthecraft

going there reveals a blank white page with a QR code

converting the QR code gives you the web address
http://qr.w69b.com/g/mCPqjdJx6
there you have a blank page with some binary code

00110110
11001001
01101101
10100010

converting that i got 4 numbers
54 201 109 162

but im a bit stuck now, the only thing i could think was an ip
http://db-ip.com/54.201.109.162
but don't see much there

[shorena]

I dont like where this is going. URL shorteners? 

Anyway its an amazon web service machine with port 22 (ssh) open. 

Code:

Completed Service scan at 17:00, 0.35s elapsed (1 service on 1 host)
NSE: Script scanning 54.201.109.162.
Initiating NSE at 17:00
Completed NSE at 17:00, 0.04s elapsed
Nmap scan report for ec2-54-201-109-162.us-west-2.compute.amazonaws.com (54.201.109.162)
Host is up (0.11s latency).
Not shown: 999 filtered ports
PORT   STATE SERVICE VERSION
22/tcp open  ssh?

its not accepting connections from me though.

Code:

$ ssh -v 54.201.109.162
OpenSSH_6.0p1 Debian-4+deb7u1, OpenSSL 1.0.1e 11 Feb 2013
debug1: Reading configuration data /etc/ssh/ssh_config
debug1: /etc/ssh/ssh_config line 19: Applying options for *
debug1: Connecting to 54.201.109.162 [54.201.109.162] port 22.
debug1: Connection established.
-snip-
debug1: Remote protocol version 2.0, remote software version OpenSSH_6.6.1p1 Ubuntu-2ubuntu2
debug1: match: OpenSSH_6.6.1p1 Ubuntu-2ubuntu2 pat OpenSSH*
debug1: Enabling compatibility mode for protocol 2.0
debug1: Local version string SSH-2.0-OpenSSH_6.0p1 Debian-4+deb7u1
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_KEXINIT received
debug1: kex: server->client aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none
debug1: kex: client->server aes128-ctr hmac-md5 none
debug1: sending SSH2_MSG_KEX_ECDH_INIT
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_KEX_ECDH_REPLY
debug1: Server host key: ECDSA c3:83:97:c0:27:2e:cc:ca:56:e9:8c:fc:0f:c0:55:f6
debug1: Host '54.201.109.162' is known and matches the ECDSA host key.
-snip-
debug1: ssh_ecdsa_verify: signature correct
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS sent
debug1: expecting SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS
debug1: SSH2_MSG_NEWKEYS received
debug1: Roaming not allowed by server
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_REQUEST sent
debug1: SSH2_MSG_SERVICE_ACCEPT received
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey
debug1: Next authentication method: publickey
debug1: Offering RSA public key: -snip-
debug1: Authentications that can continue: publickey
debug1: Trying private key: -snip-
debug1: Trying private key: -snip-
debug1: No more authentication methods to try.
Permission denied (publickey).

I think we took a wrong turn somewhere.

[cryptozim]

OP update:

Update 6/30

- Contra code has been solved.

[mirth23]

That website also has an interesting favicon that looks like a tiny QR code, but I couldn't scan it, even with scaling it up: http://qr.w69b.com/images/icon.png

We also get some cookies off of it, but it looks like it's all google analytics so probably not part of the game.

[Kprawn]

I pulled it into "Paint" and zoomed in, sure looks like a QR code.  

Scanned it, took me to mslinkechange_amazon_app_store.mp3

Recorded Podcast {Lady voice}

[shorena]

That website also has an interesting favicon that looks like a tiny QR code, but I couldn't scan it, even with scaling it up: http://qr.w69b.com/images/icon.png

We also get some cookies off of it, but it looks like it's all google analytics so probably not part of the game.

This is what it looks like after the header

Code:

00 00 00 0D 49 48 44 52 00 00 00 10 00 00 00 10 01 03 00 00 00 25 3D 6D 22 00 00 00 06 50 4C 54 45 00 00 00 FF FF FF A5 D9 9F DD 00 00 00 31 49 44 41 54 08 D7 63 60 6C 60 A8 DD C7 E0 BA 08 8A 80 6C A0 C8 FF FF 0C FF 65 18 18 45 18 6A BF 30 B8 B2 30 B8 CA 30 B8 3E 61 A8 95 60 60 94 00 00 5F 1E 0D 4E 8D C9 DF F4 00 00 00 00 49 45 4E 44 AE 42 60 82

Edit: forget the QR code. If you do an imagine search for "qr icon.png" it will show up. Its just a google icon for the google barcode generator.

[dserrano5]

00110110
11001001

These XORed yield 11111111.

01101101
10100010

These don't, only due to a single misplaced bit.

[mtgox555]

Minecraft server
54.201.109.162:25565

[shorena]

Minecraft server
54.201.109.162:25565

confirmed.

[w0lverine]

you can log in with SSH at 54.201.109.162:22 with the username "user" but no clue what the password is.
client used: putty

[Mitchell]

Minecraft server
54.201.109.162:25565

confirmed.

It indeed is a MC server, but I cannot join because the Mojang server for authentication are down.
Never mind, just joined.

[Coinkle]

Update 6/30

- Contra code has been solved.

- IP address has been discovered.

I am stunned at what amazing progress everyone has made while I've been in bed sick. This is the first time I'm getting back to this since Thursday of last week.

[itod]

Minecraft server
54.201.109.162:25565

confirmed.

It indeed is a MC server, but I cannot join because the Mojang server for authentication are down.
Never mind, just joined.

I certainly hope one should not have to play Minecraft to solve this.

Congratulations to everyone contributing, the rate of progress is amazing.