Riddles for Computerfreaks

[Dakkareth]

While reading the mailing list of the CCC I came across an interesting link, which I'd like to share.

http://scifi.pages.at/hackits/

On first sight it looks somewhat like the countless fake sites, that are flooding the internet promising '1337 h4x0r t00lz'. Giving it a second look reveals however, that it is in fact a collection of nicely done problems to be solved by the interested visitor.

Each problem consists of a security barrier (usually a password prompt) that has to be broken through. This can be as easy as a brief glance at the source code or as complicated as decompiling a program and reverse the algorithms used to encode the password. As the problems are designed to be solved this is of course completely legal.

While the lower levels are easy enough to be solved by everyone, the difficulty increases and the highest levels pose a challenge even to well advanced users.

I hope, you have fun - I sure have (currently working on level 15).

-Dakkareth


Edit: Oh, wait ... shouldn't I have posted this to the Computer forums?

 

[Zappo]

Completed.

Cool game; I learned how to decompile java and how to crack htpasswd. You never know when it might be useful. The last puzzle was a bit disappointing, though.

 

[Dakkareth]

Hey, you're fast!

And yes, it's cool how much you can learn. It was my first encounter with JavaScript and through it I've learned quite a bit. I'm going slowly and doing other things in between as to have fun with them a little longer (solved 9 the first day, 5 the next day and I'd be surprised, if I manage one today).

If you find the last levels disappointing ... http://quiz.ngsec.biz:8080/ is recommended to people, who had no problems whatsoever at the 16 levels. I'm only forwarding it, so I have no idea, but it could be a worthy challenge for you

Have fun!

 

[Steverooo]

"'1337 h4x0r"? I assume that has something to do with hackers, but...

Anyway, I made it through the first seven, despite knowing nut'n' honey about JavaScript, but the eighth one has me stumped... at least for now!

 

[Dakkareth]

Mmhh, indeed, the 16th level was disappointing. Nice trap, but ultimately uninspiring.

The 15th on the other hand was the most like a protection mechanism you'd find on the web and appropriately hard. In the end it was the tip they gave, that enabled me to find the security hole they left ... that and John the Ripper And I learned a lot of interesting things in that one.

Anyway, it was nice, hope you have fun, too.

-Dakkareth

P.S:
@Steveroo: Want a hint?

 

[Mercule]

Kinda nifty. I made it through level five w/o breaking a sweat. Which, considering where I rank myself on the hacker scale (low), was somewhat pleasing.

Definitely sounds like I could learn a bit from playing with it. I'll come back to it when I have more time, though. Right now, I'm supposed to be finishing up two characters (mine & wife's) for a game.

 

[Dakkareth]

I found another one ... http://www.try2hack.nl/.

Also very interesting and with a steeper difficulty curve.

 

[Zappo]

The ngsec ones are more difficult, but they present real-world vulnerabilities. Ngsec is kind enough to offer links to documents detailing the vulnerability and attack, so you can learn lots of interesting things.

 

[spacemonkey]

just saw this today - fun stuff (even if the first 5 or so were kinda lame...)

regarding the http://scifi.pages.at/hackits/ one though... I could be wrong but it looks broken. I am on #11 (where it asks for 5 codes) and I get sent to another page after I figured them out, then I have to enter them without any spaces and it calculates another code for me, which I put in and it takes me to ... a page not found message. Is there something I am missing, or is it actually broken?

 

[Steverooo]

P.SSteveroo: Want a hint?

You guys say you "learned" stuff from this... Where? From the Guestbook, or what?

I guess I'd rather have a pointer to a primer on JavaScript than a hint... I might actually learn something, that way... Still, I guess being a Starfleet Commander of Data Security isn't bad...