undefined | Better HN

0 pointsderekp77mo ago0 comments

A one time pad would be unreasonable.

Edit: Unless the one time pad is a well known relative document, such as the Declaration of Independence.

0 comments

There are SO many things he might have done, with no pre-determined rules. Like, algo-scramble.

Starting with the n-char plaintext, make it a loop. Now move the second letter two places to its right, the third three places, and so on ... until arriving at the original nth letter (painted red?) Or, starting with the digits of pi, move the second letter 3 to the right, the third 1, the fourth 4, und so weiter.

Doing a frequency on 97 weird letters wouldn't help much.

Waterluvian7mo ago

Would that be akin to me offering a hash string as a puzzle and asking for the 10GB video file as the solution?

kop3167mo ago

Sort of. A one time pad does not destroy data, but a hash will.

Wikipedia has a good example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-time_pad

In their example, "HELLO" is the plain text, "XMCKL" is the key, and the ciphertext is "EQNVZ". However, with a one time pad, an equally plausible plain text is "later" with the key "TQURI". Thus, without anymore data, it is simply impossible to know what the original message is.

lazide7mo ago

Was the 10GB video file never released anywhere and is stored in a now bit rotted old HD in your basement?

Reasonable puzzles can be worked out (albeit maybe with a lot of work) with information provided by the puzzle or available somewhere in the environment.

Unreasonable puzzles (like some old Sierra games cough) are impossible without secret inside knowledge by the puzzle maker and/or brute force. And sometimes not even with brute force.

The hash/video example might just be an Easter egg hunt requiring looking across a wide set of videos (somewhat reasonable but boring), or completely unreasonable depending on circumstances.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse