Ghost in the Wires is Decrypted
The most famous hacker in history, for most of us, is Kevin Mitnick. His autobiographical book, “Ghost in the Wires” is a good source to understand his mind. He is totally a hacker-minded person, and his experiences are like Hollywood films. In this book, the reader sees encrypted introduction messages. As I read this book, actually I was wondering those messages more than Mitnick’s life. This is not a problem, since those messages are related to his life anyway. Thus, I decrypt them to understand him more. The messages are encrypted by Ceasar and Vigenere cipher. Odd numbered parts are encryted by Ceasar cipher, and even numbered ones are encrypted by Vigenere cipher. Odd number’s answers are the keys of the following messages. The book is enjoyable and inspirational. Mitnick is a legend, and his fame is not only because of his technical science, but also his social engineering abilities. He did not hack just machines, he hacked also people. This book is like a puzzle for me. If you wonder those messages, here is the decrypted versions. Good readings.
- What is the name of the system used by ham operators to make free phone calls?(Ceasar, Answer: “autopatch”)
- What was the name of the central office where I was almost caught ? (vigenere, Answer: “Sunset-Gower”)
- What password did I give to set up an account on The Ark?(Ceasar, Answer: “Jelly”)
- What wasthe name of the man who yelled, “Search
his car for a logic bomb!”?(Vigenere, “Steve Cooley”) (key=”Jelly”) - What town did I hide out in until the Juvenile Court?(Ceasar, “Oroville”)
6. What game did Sandra Lambert ask if I played?(Vigenere, Answer =”Hearts”)
7. What is the name of the Pacific Bell employee who read the internal memo about my hacking activities over the ham radio??(Ceasar, Answer = “Bill Cook”)
8. How much money did Lenny owe me for losing
the bet for cracking the door code?(Vigenere, “150$”)
9. What is the term for software burned on the chip that Novatel sent me?(Ceasar, Answer: “Firmware”)
10. What guy answered the phone when I first called Eric Heinz?(Vigenere, Answer: “Henry Spiegel”)
11. What town did my father live in when I moved in with him?(Ceasar, Answer: “Calabasas”)
12. What is the name of the PI firm that was wiretapped by Pacific Bell?
13. What is the name of the PI firm that was wire tapped by Pacific Bell?
14. Which company makes the device that Lewis used to
15. Which company makes the device that Lewis used to pickup any radio signals near Eric?(optoelectronics)
16. What month and day did Eric tell me the wire taps
were put on my dad’s lines?(January 27)
17. What is the name of the apartment complex where I tracked down Eric Heinz?(Oakwood)
18. What is the acronym of the FBI squad that Ken
McGuire was assigned to?(WCC3)
19. What is name of the transaction to find a person’s social security number using their name and date of birth?(alphadent)
20. What was the name of the steak house where I answered the
phone “DMV, how can I help you?”(Bob Burns)
21. What was our nickname given to Terry Hardy?(“Klingon”)
def char_hesapla(n):
return chr(n)
def dec_hesapla(x):
return int(x,16)
liste = ["4A" ,"75" ,"6E" ,"67" ,"20" ,"6A" ,"6E" ,"66" ,"20" ,"62" ,"68" ,"65" ,"20" ,"61" ,"76" ,"70" ,"78" ,"61" ,"6E" ,"7A" ,"72" ,"20" ,"74" ,"76" ,"69" ,"72" ,"61" ,"20" ,"67" ,"62" ,"20" ,"47" ,"72" ,"65" ,"65" ,"6C" ,"20" ,"55" ,"6E" ,"65" ,"71" ,"6C" ,"3F"]
message = ""
for i in liste:
d = char_hesapla(dec_hesapla(str(i)))
message = message + d
print(message)Output: Jung jnf bhe avpxanzr tvira gb Greel Uneql?
When we put the output on ceasar.py given in the link below;
we get the following message:
“What was our nick name given to Terry Hardy?” The answer is “Klingon”
22. What was the secret name we used for the wells fargo code of the day ?
23. What electronic device did the FBI intentionally break when they searched my apartment in Calabasas ?(boombox)
24. What is the name of the store where I outran dmv investigators ?(Kinko’s)
25. What town has the alma mater for the real Eric Weiss?(“Ellensburg”)
26. What was the name of my favorite TV show where the PI
had a business card printer in his car?(The Rockford Files)
27. What is the name of the bookstore I frequented in Denver?(Tatteredcover)
28. What version of the MicroTAC Ultra Lite source code did I ask Alisa for?(latestandgreatest)
29. What was my password for the Novell terminal server in San Jose?(snowbird)
30. What kind of lock did I pick in the HR manager’s office?(wafer)
31. What X25 network did I use to the DMV mainframe ?(GTEtelenet)
32. What wasLime Elam’s pastwordto her terver?(Moon$#earth)
33. Who wrote the paper on IP Spoofing that JSZ asked me about?(Robertmorris)
34. What was the type of phone service for the mdc’s federal public defender phones ?
35. My cellular phone signals we traced to what apartment complex?(playersclub)
36. What FBI agent tried to look into my briefcase in my
apartment before I locked it on him?
37. What FBI agent asked Sun Microsystems to claim they lost 80 million dollars?
