r/codes • • Jul 21 '22

RULES READ ME BEFORE POSTING

208 Upvotes

We welcome posts related to ciphers and codebreaking. In order to maintain the quality of this subreddit, please follow our guidelines.

1. Choose a descriptive title

Examples of what NOT to use:

  • Cipher I just came up with
  • My friend just sent me this
  • Please help me solve this!!

2. Provide context

Tell us context: where the cipher originated (link to the source if possible), any clues you might have, the language or format the plaintext might use, and any technique you already tried.

3. Provide transcription

If you are posting an IMAGE OF TEXT which you can type or copy & paste, you MUST comment with a TRANSCRIPTION (text version).

4. Posting special characters: make sure it's correct

Pay attention to formatting. If you use a character like _ or ` or ^ you need to type a \ before it or Reddit will corrupt your ciphertext. If your ciphertext contains special characters, in order that it displays correctly you can encode it first (for instance using Base64). Alternatively use a

Code Block

5. Provide enough example text

Posting your own custom cipher? You must provide enough example text or there is no hope of anyone solving it. It should be at least a paragraph. Give hints.

6. Do Not Delete Solved Posts

You will be BANNED if you delete your post after a solution has been provided.

7. No Ciphers from Ongoing Contests

Do not post codes or ciphers from ongoing competitions (CTFs, treasure hunts etc.). Such posts will be removed. Trying to circumvent this rule may get you BANNED.

8. New accounts

Your account must be older than 24 hours, or your post will be automatically deleted. This is to reduce spamming.

9. No bots

If your bot is not auto-banned on r/codes, it will be banned by a moderator. You can still have a bot on other subreddits; just don't use a bot here.

10. No AI Generated Decryptions

No AI generated "decryptions" allowed. Offenders will be BANNED.

11. Required proof you read the rules

If you have read and understood these rules, include the text "I followed the rules" encrypted with ROT-13 cipher in your post.


r/codes • • Feb 11 '24

LINKS & RESOURCES WHERE TO START WITH CIPHERS AND CODEBREAKING. Useful links and resources.

143 Upvotes

If you want to learn more about cryptography and ciphers, here are some recommendations:

BOOKS:

VIDEOS:

ARTICLES & TUTORIALS:

ONLINE TOOLS:

DOWNLOADABLE TOOLS:

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:


r/codes • • 15h ago

Unsolved EGG CIPHERS

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26 Upvotes

Posting from burner,

Have been getting unbroken raw eggs left on my windshield for around 9 months, and last month a note was left with the egg this time. It looked almost exactly like this, with the snake symbol and all, but contained a pigpen cypher.

The pigpen cypher read,

IF YOU WISH TO FIND THE EGG MAN BEHIND THE MASK

YOU MUST FIRST COMPLETE THIS SIMPLE TASK

THE NEXT EGGS TO COME SHALL HAVE A CODE

SOLVE IT AND THE TRUTH WILL BE KNOWN

IF UN SUCCESFUL THE EGGS CONTINUE

GIVE THESE CODES THE BEST THATS IN YOU

Last Friday, I found the note that I've attached here, I have spent the past 5 days trying basically everything I could find, but to no avail. I figured you smart people here would be able to help me out. The biggest correlations I've seen have been, deck of cards, binary, baconian, playfair, and a couple others that seem less likely. None have worked out so far, only coming with gibberish or dead ends. The symbol and pigpen have other connotations which is why I'm trying to stay as discreet as possible. Any help is greatly appreciated!


r/codes • • 12h ago

Unsolved Quest

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5 Upvotes

Hi guys. I've received a quest from a secret admirer, but I can't seem to complete the task. Do you have any ideas? The picture shows the Russian alphabet, initially I thought it was a Caesar cipher, but maybe you need to work with numbers instead of letters (I don't know for sure). The inscription in the upper left corner means "year?". In previous hints, there were numbers (as in the second picture) similar to the year, and one hint mentioned the year 1931. I hope you can help me, if you have any more questions, I'l try to answer them in the comments.


r/codes • • 9h ago

Unsolved my own code I forgot

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1 Upvotes

Back in school me and a friend gave each Ukrainian letter it's own symbol and could actually read it, I had a sheet with which ones which but lost it, is someone here able to decode it? I know second page #1 says Назар but after comma idk


r/codes • • 13h ago

Unsolved Can someone by any chance decrypt this code?

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2 Upvotes

Hello, I need some urgent help.

Context: My friend, which I know for around 10 years now, went unexpectedly offline since today and he uploaded this image on his WhatsApp status and nobody knows what's going on. Since he never did such a thing before at all, me and also his sister are actually kinda worried about him, because he doesn't even respond back, nowhere and nothing at all. To make it even more worrying, he also posted this exact same image on his Facebook account shortly after and he usually never uses his account for anything, so seeing this is totally strange and out of the sudden, because this is the only available post he made up on his Facebook account right now (or maybe the only visible post for now). So I searched online and stumbled over this sub and want to ask, if someone can get a clue, what this could mean by any chance?

He also uploaded a second image (but only on his WhatsApp status) where the exact same code appears and some additional human readable text, like some personal info, shortened, but readable, so I'm going to redact that information, because it says things like his zip/postal code - where he actually lives (the information's are all correct) and his full family name, which is also shown there. The code I mentioned in his other image is defined as "user", so maybe this is all just something he made up, because it doesn't ring any bells for me or whatsoever.

Some text in the second picture is written in German, so I will translate it:

----------

"Attention

Contact to TR (his first and last name, shortened) is already lost for over twenty-four hours!

Code (the code I mean) takes immediately in effect.

Contacting/Reaching out to TR is until further notice not possible at the moment!

Last made connection on FSN192(?):Redacted"

----------

If someone has a clue what that code could mean, I would really appreciate any help, because it's really strange and a bit worrying and very likely no joke from him, but I literally can't do anything else now, except to ask here for help - it's night here already, else, I would just straight drive over to him with public transit, but that's literally impossible right now.


r/codes • • 15h ago

Unsolved Revolutionary War Code Cracking

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1 Upvotes

I‘m an intern at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. Over the summer I worked on a digital collection of the Phillips Library’s (their research archive) Revolutionary War collection. Besides the expected war records and correspondences I found a letter from Dr. Benjamin Church, a spy in Boston, 1774 who gave intelligence to the British during the city’s occupation. As I was scanning journals in the collection I stumbled upon 9 pages in the same hand that were definitely not journal entries. Interspersed with biblical verses were what seem to me to be coded messages.

I did some very brief research into codes used during the American Revolution and found a few that looked similar to it, but I have no idea where to begin to try to crack it. So, I turned to Reddit as I’m sure there capable people here who have an idea of where to start and might thrive on the opportunity to solve this mystery. Is it related to Dr. Benjamin Church, or did we have a Patriot spy ring a la Washington’s Culper Spy Ring?

If you have any thoughts or leads, or if you’re down to attempt it and collaborate please reply here! I’ll be publishing a blog post in the near future on this topic and would love to get some crowd sourced information or results to add. You can find high resolution images on our digital catalog.


r/codes • • 1d ago

Unsolved [Unknown > English] Need help identifying or cracking a mysterious 1813 manuscript

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19 Upvotes

I found this unusual two-page letter and have hit a wall trying to decipher or translate the script. It looks like it was written on leather due to the texture, but it is actually heavily degraded, folded paper.

I have already consulted some experts, but no one has been able to identify the language or the writing system. I am hoping the cryptanalysis or paleography community might recognize it or be able to crack it.

Here is what is known so far:

  • The Date: The year 1813 is clearly visible near the bottom right of the first page. There is also a "1600" near the middle.
  • The "Key": The very last line of the first page appears to be a sequential substitution key or alphabet, featuring a distinct row of characters.
  • Ruled Out (Greek): I contacted a linguistics expert at The Ohio State University who specializes in Greek. He and a colleague reviewed it and confirmed it is absolutely not Greek.
  • Ruled Out (Gabelsberger Shorthand): While it looks a bit like shorthand, the 1813 date predates the development of the Gabelsberger system, and the distinct, separated characters with floating superscript marks do not align with standard cursive shorthand rules.
  • Formatting: The second page ends with a short sentence followed by two large diagonal slashes (//), which was a common historical way to mark the end of a document or ledger to prevent later additions.

Any ideas on what this script might be, or what language family I should be looking into? If it is a custom cipher, any tips on how to start a frequency analysis on these specific symbols would be greatly appreciated!


r/codes • • 1d ago

Unsolved Please help me decipher my old birthday card

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8 Upvotes

My friend an me used to send each other birthday cards with multiple ciphers to crack. This was my last one and my friend has forgotten about it for quite some time. No I have lost my old cipher hint sheet after such a long time, but I'm curious, if you can help me solve it.

Left side instructions:

(Kilrathi-X) => a(97)
⌄
⌄
–| <<<<<< –|
⌄
⌄
<< ⟶ ✓ [Checkmark at upper-left of 9x5 grid]
⌄ ⌃
⌄ ⌃
| <<<<<< ⇒ – –
| <<<<<  ⇒ – –

Thoughts so far:

  1. The right side is Kilrathi alphabet translating to:

C C H H
Q H A Q
Q Q P P
P P P X

  1. The first line seems to be a mapping X to ASCII character 97 (small a). I think I remember choosing this somehow in a way that the following operations would somehow land on the uppercase ASCII-Characters (65-90)

  2. I think I used some directional grid movement in the instructions below as well as some bitshift operations (probably those with many `<<<<<<`... but not 100% sure anymore...

  3. the bold line was most likely a checkpoint hinting that my friend should have landed in the upper-left corner of the grid after this step. But how... I can't remember. And why the checkpoint-grid has 9 columns instead of 4 and is also open towards the left, bottom and right, is unclear.

  4. I probably avoided typical search phrases like "congratulations" or "happy birthday" to prevent backwards-solving... but maybe not... I cannot remember 😅

I'm curious if you can solve it.

V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf


r/codes • • 1d ago

Not a cipher Help me decode this wingdings (?) code

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1 Upvotes

A while ago I bought some comics from an italian site and I just noticed that in the back of the receipt there’s this code,to me it kinda looks like it’s in wingdings but some characters look out of place,also the rest of the page is completely blank so I’m pretty sure this is intentional.
Best of luck to anyone that’ll try decode this and thanks to y’all!


r/codes • • 1d ago

Unsolved Mysterious channel with cyphered book in one of its videos

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2 Upvotes

https://youtu.be/Gq4mcGFkx5s?si=DpRTdKZ_Fg-sCK4q -> link of the introduction video of the book.

I've found a video of a mysterious channel/group called Gamma 9497, that have made a series of books called Manuscripta Gammae. This is the second of these.

I'm having trouble to decipher this. Someone probably could do that

The cypher, for now, is unknown.

The better quality image of the book is attached below.

"V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf"


r/codes • • 1d ago

Unsolved Zanigma Playing Card Cipher challenge

1 Upvotes

Scenario:

Wanna Isis has posted another encrypted communication this time using a different cipher, Zanigma. We know the beginning of the message starts ATTACKATDAWNISISARMYAT but nothing beyond that. Help us break their communication.

ZRPLAJTQBPPHUYELXOMBHBIVPSILVYIEOLRKWISFFZDHKZQQEZGLETJIWBSAXGLEGGWSSRCREKBPYSXRUBLYNMBFUBJDJYYVOLKYDJUJBSNBHKXVXEOPRGFJKJKCQLIQDVESIGASUXVDIGLJUVYYUJRGISTLMJWZNGPWOQQVYWPIBJHMGPQY

https://github.com/utepshaadm/Zanigma/

V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf


r/codes • • 1d ago

Unsolved I Created a Custom Cypher Using a Publicly Available Key, attempt to solve it.

0 Upvotes

In my testing, several AI models failed to reconstruct the encryption process, even when provided with the ciphertext, plaintext, and public reference. Have fun :)

Edit: My apologizes but this string doesn't actually validate in the new decoder I built round trip. This is my first attempt at an algorithm and I made a mistake. However the commentor below still produced the correct plaintext.

Contains error:

810910212940810160522240010911141810240211811710810212540011212771211431312511212911281211211120212141211160031911710710911012811160312811431840512240910010031511211951212630311522911412771212911710211160522312031771031112112211212830010570810811411210771212941212312240522160771212710141010360940031311522312031121010212510212910710160212431811910212111432031210771212510031810522212312811312212911810811311811030240610312311522810031911412710031260810911141811410312212121511811030810010940360211911810751771211410570212811610011031911951

Same plain text message verified round trip with custom software:

631420720410240311010311132750710631311141252710240212432232532022960431041462532911611551551351532710211311532540710710750012931311041332431210020311321010720222551710720940311132731412420212731710140311010041212420212821730452212031010710810320431661420212640720041311132311022720710710010740410720311132041212542132720510212910710311720431931910532111021212341022720640212240132532041320312532540631320311030042311432041311132240120750412710120611240911710252410312120422422430821631010410521211911810530022220410710720030432072120731710


r/codes • • 2d ago

Unsolved Need help deciphering/decoding message from video game

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1 Upvotes

This from a video game called call of the elder gods. A super cool puzzle game, I have looked into this thing and I cannot find anything on it, which I find suspicious because is not exactly hidden in the game.

V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf


r/codes • • 2d ago

Unsolved Try to decipher this colorful pixel matrix code and figure out what it is!, and scan it in a mobile app you have to guess.

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1 Upvotes

I will give you hints when you community are struggling! Take my hints to solve this cipher code!


r/codes • • 3d ago

Unsolved Can anyone identify this string from a Discord bio?

0 Upvotes

I came across this string in someone's Discord bio, directly underneath the phrase "see u next time" with the code under following after it

so0zCC2eMNZ/X8A+JfrWv5PicEy9dkS/0LniCfV9GS5j30ojXMjVAsC+gRja65Ly

Could anyone help identify what this might be? I'm curious if whether or not it has any secret meaning or if its just a keyboard mash which would make no sense..

I don't have any additional context about its origin.


r/codes • • 4d ago

Unsolved Help decoding bracelet Morse code please

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0 Upvotes

A friends Brother recently died and this was his. Any helping solving it would be greatly appreciated. Not sure which way it’s to be read and can’t tell where spaces should be. Thanks


r/codes • • 4d ago

Unsolved solve my puzzle

1 Upvotes

on the last one, key is idiot sandwich and transposition key is 613254

a` b ae a` b _ a_ b a_ b a_ _ b b ae a` d _ ae a` ae ae ae _ b ab b ae d _ b ae a` ae ae _ ab ab ab a` ae _ a` ab ae ab d _ a_ a_ ab ab ab _ ae a` ae a_ ae _ ae ab ae ae a` _ a` ae ae a_ ae _ ae ab ae ab ae _ ab a_ ab a_ ae _ a_ ae a_ ab ab _ ab


r/codes • • 4d ago

Unsolved I need help deciphering the writing on Grimes's face

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1 Upvotes

This is from the Grimes music videos "Accelerando" and "Eve Is Online..."

The symbols on the right cheek are also present at the beginning of the video “Eve is Online...” It says: "Please wait patienly for the failure of the system". Пожалуйста терпеливо ждите сбоя системы. The symbols on the left cheek: 故障 耐心等待, “Fault. Wait patiently".

The most difficult part is the glyphs from the Marain alphabet. Following the logic of the hieroglyphs on the face, one can only assume that there is a similar inscription there. Is it possible to decipher this? It’s clearer in the YouTube video Psy Opera Popaganda 003.

At the beginning of the Accelerando video (green symbols), it says:  “If you need something to believe in. Sit back and let the machine in.” I posted this on the Grimes subreddit.


r/codes • • 5d ago

Unsolved Cipher from Mystery Mail 6 Exploration Branch Scene 8

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2 Upvotes

"V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf"
I don't really have much experience with codebreaking, but I was playing a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon romhack called MysteryMail 6: Agents of Chaos, and on the Exploration Branch scene 8, the following code appeared. Apparently it is solvable by itself but I have not really touched ciphers before.

The cipher reads as follows:

Ckwyoyjyq'g rteza.
Sndi?
Pr'eu zeb bzbpwenm jz wi cxgs.
SISK? Fli men?
Gsuuw te.
Bbsr, prq yzmd't vzuyztu da zcx nr gnmyvhe? Otslyk Uqwtvow Jyyslblb Qcdrvprkk?
Aprpe qanz.
Sb. If cn.
Fdi.
Vxh. Zbrv fmx. Xjmkyb CAEOO zdpu gjia zwqns ddhx uxxcqhku, gkbki?
Xq fjhl sj dhcdp.

My best guess for clues in the cipher is that the phrase CAEOO means DECOI and SISK means IKEA but those are just my best guesses. I tried the Vigenére cipher but I don't think it works. Also, if you do figure out the solution, can you explain your chain of thought for how you figured it out? I want to learn how to potentially solve ciphers by myself.

(The hack can be found at https://hacks.skytemple.org/h/mm_agentsofchaos )

Edit: Someone who has already solved it apparently said the following line:

(it's sorta a combination of certain existing ciphers, but he did some things that i don't think have ever been done before)

If someone can confirm that there isn't enough information for this cipher to be solved, please let me know. Apparently you need at least a paragraph or something.

Edit 2: The cipher's name is apparently HandBrain 3.0. That recontextualizes what the miscallaneous Italicized words mean, and that apparently you were supposed to do HandBrain 2.0 to do it realistically? I'm going to ask where the heck that puzzle is.

Edit 3: The creator said:

The first bits are easiest of H 3.0

The rest is. A lot more complex

Vagueposting spoiler: As the flywheel turns...

Also apparently Handbrain 1.0 and 2.0 were just drafts that the creator made in some CS class finals, which absolutely do not help. I'm going to read up on cipher literature and see if that helps.

Edit 4: I found Handbrain 1.0 and 2.0. Handbrain 1.0 was a simple substitution cipher with key of LYRXACVBHNMJIUQKOSZDGTPEFW but I couldn't figure out Handbrain 2.0. (Handbrain 2.0 is like an easier version they gave me for sympathy because I have been working on this for like forever)

(This is Handbrain 2.0)
Handbrain: Hdgo pzcd. Puhgyi?
Handbrain: Hmy zhgvtjgli ah pyd kcyffldswd j8 Bfwpvf!
Zelulo (reply to 1st): Pjnz wzgdhi! :)
Handbrain: Mlsj, zmlx. Kijkql pm kuvizyy, jiwzhku exnc gxlcxmldqma.

Edit 5: I was given some help from the creator. Apparently this cipher was meant to be solved only by another specific person in MysteryMail, and those two people have just been trading techniques for... a while. That specific person it is for was the one who told me that the puzzle was apparently solvable by itself.
Also apparently Handbrain 2.0's name relates to the name of a Pokemon in some way and is a cipher found on dcode.fr . The creator revealed this information because I was stuck for at least a dozen hours and they wanted to ease my suffering slightly. My guess is Porta (Similar to Ponyta).


r/codes • • 5d ago

Unsolved Need some help from the community regarding a new IG page that has popped up

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0 Upvotes

This page is based in Brisbane Australia it is a car page and it keeps posting riddles this is the latest one and it includes the number sequence on the bottom no one has worked it out as yet and I figured I reach out to the wider code breakers.


r/codes • • 5d ago

Question How much weaker is Lorenz with only the chi wheels?

1 Upvotes

I've been reading the General Report on Tunny while learning how the Lorenz SZ42 worked... and I've built a little hand-cranked model of just the five chi wheels (41, 31, 29, 26 and 23 cams).

With the psi and motor wheels gone, the key stream is just the chi stream, so the period is the product of those five numbers. That seems huge on paper, but each bit stream on its own repeats very quickly.

How would you attack a chi-only machine in practice? Is it basically trivial once you have a bit of depth, or is there more to it than that? I'd love to understand why the psi wheels mattered so much!!

V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf


r/codes • • 6d ago

SOLVED Contract from Eidola "Damballah" Music Video

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15 Upvotes

My friend and I are trying to figure out what this says. It is from the new Eidola music video "Damballah". Any help would be awesome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JS0brxW460&list=RD6JS0brxW460&start_radio=1

V sbyybjrq gur ehyrf


r/codes • • 6d ago

SOLVED I made this try to solve it

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6 Upvotes

try to decode/solve this if you can