34
$\begingroup$

My friend sent me a "puzzle" in binary, and said that there are multiple steps to solving the puzzle, all of them including decryption. I translated the binary into text and he said that was a good first step, but I have absolutely no idea what cipher to use past that on the text. He said it requires a key and that the post he sent me should have all I need to solve the puzzle. Unfortunately, I'm completely stumped. I've been locked into using a Vigenere cipher because I believe he hid a keyword somehow, but I'm afraid I might be tunneling on that too hard. Can you help me figure out the next step?

Here's the full "puzzle" he sent me. Whether it's a copypasta, I do not know.

Alright so to quell my boredom I have decided to make a puzzle, whoever solves this puzzle and tells me the answer will get $100 cold cash in their hand. For each day that passes I will give one hint but the cash will drop 10 dollars for each hint. The first hint is free, no this puzzle isn't just conversion that's just a step.

Puzzle #1

 01001001 01000010 00100000 01001000 01001110 00100000 01000001
 00100000 01000011 00100000 01010110 01010101 00100000 01001011
 00100000 01011000 01010100 00100000 00111001 00100000 01010000
 00110111 01001011 00100000 01011010 01000111 01000111 00100000
 01010010 01010000 00100000 00110010 00110000 00100000 00110011
 01010001 00100000 01001100 00100000 01001011 01001001 00100000
 01000100 00100000 01011000 01010100 00100000 01010111 00110011

Good luck.

Translating the binary to text yields: IB HN A C VU K XT 9 P7K ZGG RP 20 3Q L KI D XT W3

That's as far as I've gotten.

Updates

Hint 1: The creator has posted a hint.

It's something that makes him happy.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
23
  • 36
    $\begingroup$ Do I get the 100$ if I solve it? $\endgroup$
    – leoll2
    Commented May 21, 2015 at 18:26
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ do you have hints? It says you'd get some :P $\endgroup$
    – Wouter
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 8:29
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ He's posted an update on Reddit: 'Edit: He has provided a second hint. This is something that makes him "happy".' $\endgroup$
    – Demesne
    Commented Jul 5, 2015 at 13:36
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ @moonbutt74 Seems like from the Reddit page the OP has solved the second layer with a "smile cipher" (likely what the hint from Demesne was referring to). The cipher decryption tool can be found at: enisoc.com/smile.php but without knowledge of the key or more codes it will be impossible to solve. Indeed on the Reddit page the OP was told he/she was given the key to solve it. $\endgroup$
    – Hackiisan
    Commented Aug 27, 2015 at 1:04
  • 8
    $\begingroup$ Can someone provide a link to the reddit page? $\endgroup$
    – Engineer Toast
    Commented Nov 30, 2015 at 15:47

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3
$\begingroup$

Is it

EmoSys?

Reasoning:

Your letters after decrypting the binary, as shown by @Brian, combine to make almost every letter in the alphabet. Taking the letters not make, EFJMOSY, I can make the word: EmoSys. I removed the numbers because I didn't think it would do anything related to a word that makes him happy

Hint 2:

It makes me happy; EmoSys is a company out of the Netherlands that specifically makes items that help people with depression, hence the 'makes me happy.' If he was depressed, EmoSys would help make him happy.

This was all I could come up with out of this cipher.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.