If you’re a frequent reader of the PandaLabs blog, then you know that we love creating crypto/crackme challenges. In fact, we have one coming up shortly. I came across a Wired article pointing out a certain sequence of characters embedded in the United States Cyber Command seal and wanted to take a stab at it.
The characters around the seal appear to be an MD5 hash value of 9EC4C12949A4F31474F299058CE2B22A
So, what does this hash value represent? Many have suggested that it is the following QR code (below), which translates to “Poder Cibernetico”.
However, this QR code is misleading because it contains the hash value in its meta tags rather than in the QR code itself.
Instead, if we take the CYBERCOM mission statement and calculate the MD5 hash value for the text, we arrive at the same 9EC4C12949A4F31474F299058CE2B22A hash on the seal.
CYBERCOM Mission Statement: USCYBERCOM plans, coordinates, integrates, synchronizes and conducts activities to: direct the operations and defense of specified Department of Defense information networks and; prepare to, and when directed, conduct full spectrum military cyberspace operations in order to enable actions in all domains, ensure US/Allied freedom of action in cyberspace and deny the same to our adversaries.
That was fun! If you like these types of challenges, then tune in to the PandaLabs blog on Saturday, July 17 at 9AM GMT +2 to participate in our latest Panda Challenge.