I tried avoiding the Derbycon CTF. I really did. With more than 18,000 flags available, I knew that if I got sucked in, I’d have to go all in for the weekend. But the allure was too much. I dedicated a few hours on Saturday to checking out a few of the challenges and ended […]
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BSides Rochester Crypto Challenge
I suppose it’s time to recap this year’s crypto challenge from the BSides Rochester conference. One of my main goals this year was to solve the crypto challenge for the third straight year. As usual, there were a handful of us working together throughout the day. I was a bit concerned since we got started […]
Read MoreBSides ROC 5 – Follow Up
First off, I really wanted to thank everyone that stopped by to check out my talk. I think I finally understand how to properly use the microphone, and I apologize for anyone that had trouble hearing me. That being said, I ‘m posting below a number of references I’ve come across relating to helpful talks, […]
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2014 BSides ROC / Crypto Challenge Write-Up
It’s crazy to think that a year’s gone by already since last year’s BSides Rochester conference. I attended again this year, this time it was located at the German House, which I thought it was a solid venue to host the conference. And, while there were no remote control flying sharks, there was an A.R […]
Read MoreThoughts on ISTS 11
Somewhere around the middle December, I was asked by my coworker Anthony (@_s1lentjudge) if I wanted to participate in RIT SPARSA’s Information Security Talent Search (ISTS) competition, which I had heard of but wasn’t entirely familiar with. I agreed, and spent some time in January and February preparing. I wasn’t able to do as much […]
Read MorePlayfair Encryption/Decryption
I’m currently in the middle of a Grad course in Secure Protocols. In the first weeks of the course, we discussed a number of encryption methods used over the years to secure messages passed between entities. These included the Caesar Cipher, the Affine Caesar Cipher, The Hill Cipher, and the Playfair Cipher. Each of these were […]
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