Puzzles

Puzzle # 1

Title: Simple Caesar Cipher

Difficulty	Cryptographic Skills Required
Easy	Caesar cipher, letter substitution, basic pattern recognition

Encrypted message: Khoor, zruog!

Clues:

1. The message has been encrypted using a simple letter substitution method.
2. Each letter in the message has been shifted by the same number of positions.
3. The key is a single-digit positive number.

Encryption method: Caesar cipher with a shift of 3.

In this easy puzzle, participants will use the provided clues to determine that a Caesar cipher has been used with a shift of 3.

Puzzle # 2

Title: Multi-Step Encryption

Difficulty	Cryptographic Skills Required
Hard	Caesar cipher, Vigenère cipher, transposition cipher, pattern analysis

Encrypted message: Wtbq’s ktqy rvgv xjp qzebnwiau rlh.

Clues:

1. The message has been encrypted using multiple methods.
2. The first method involves letter substitution, similar to the first puzzle.
3. The second method involves a keyword that has been used to encrypt the message further.
4. The third method involves rearranging the letters in the message.
5. The keyword is a 5-letter word related to computers.

Encryption methods:

1. Caesar cipher with a shift of 3.
2. Vigenère cipher with the keyword “CODES”.
3. Columnar transposition cipher with a key of 4.

Puzzle #3

Title: The Ultimate Crypto Challenge

Difficulty	Cryptographic Skills Required
Nearly Impossible	XOR cipher, frequency analysis, advanced pattern analysis, steganography

Encrypted message: (in hexadecimal format)

rCopy code

69 75 7b 2b 2e 3c 34 3b 20 3c 3d 2a 71 3b 2b 2c 3e 3c 3a 7e 3b 3b 3e 34 3d 3a 3b 2a 2d 71 2d 39 2c 2d 2d 2d 34 2d 2c

Clues:

1. The message has been encrypted using a bitwise operation and a key.
2. The key is a single-byte value.
3. The key can be found by analyzing the frequency of the encrypted characters and comparing them to typical English character frequencies.
4. The message contains a hidden clue that leads to a URL with an image.
5. Visit the URL “techsolutionsmaine.com” for an essential clue to solve the riddle hidden in the decrypted message.