Cyber Command Code Cracked ...

CW:

A security researcher said on Thursday he was the first to crack the code embedded in the seal of the U.S. Cyber Command (Cybercom), the group responsible for protecting the country's military networks from attack.

Sean-Paul Correll, a threat researcher with antivirus vendor Panda Security, said that the characters visible in a gold ring on Cybercom's official seal represent the MD5 hash of the group's mission statement. MD5 is a 128-bit cryptographic hash most often used to verify file integrity.

A representative of Cybercom confirmed that Correll had it right. " Mr. Correll is correct...it's a MD5 hash," said Lt. Commander Steve Curry of the U.S. Navy, in an e-mail.

"It wasn't very difficult," said Correll, adding that thanks to the clue on Wired.com's Danger Room blog, it took him just a few minutes to figure out that the characters -- 9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a -- were the hash value for Cybercom's mission statement.

"I knew right away it was an MD5 hash, and I was fairly confident that it wasn't a specific file," said Correll, adding that security professionals will often use an MD5 hash as reminders, or to verify that a file's contents after downloading match the original edition.

Correll said he figured out the mystery shortly after 10 a.m. PT Wednesday, within an hour of Wired.com publishing its story.

At least one other code-breaker came up with the same solution. Buried in the nearly 500 comments added to the Wired.com story was the solution, posted Wednesday at 12:46 p.m. PT by someone identified only as "jemelehill".

In a follow-up story, Wired.com credited jemelehill with first decoding the message.

"Information security professionals are very challenge driven," said Correll, so tackling the problem was fun...while it lasted. "Absolutely, this was definitely fun," he said.

Correll is familiar with code-breaking problems, since Panda regularly sponsors secret code challenges. The next challenge is scheduled to go live at 3:00 a.m. ET Saturday, 12:00 a.m. PT.

The MD5 value is a hash of Cybercom's 58-word mission statement, Correll noted on his blog: "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."


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Wow ...

Thanks to Kurpav for passing this on to me.

U.S. using "technical means" to keep an eye on Egypt

The U.S. military and intelligence community are using "national technical means" in the skies over Egypt to gather information about the demonstrations and the deployment of Egyptian security forces.
The phrase "national technical means" is used by the U.S. government to generally refer to the use of reconnaissance satellites or other assets to gather imagery or signals intelligence.

A senior U.S. official with direct knowledge of the operation confirmed the intelligence gathering, but declined to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the matter.

The official declined to say to what extent the Egyptian government is aware of the activity. The official would not say specifically which intelligence gathering elements were being used, but indicated operations were being conducted in a manner that would not be visible to the Egyptian populace.

The official said the decision to use intelligence gathering assets came in part after the initial violence erupted in the early days of the Cairo demonstrations.

Egypt In absence of a dictator ...

Update at 11:08 a.m. ET: Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators erupted in jubilation in Tahrir Square as vice president Omar Suleiman announces that President Mubarak has resigned and called on the army to "run the affairs of the country."

Update at 11:05 a.m. ET: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has resigne.d Vice President Omar Suleiman said in a brief televised statement. His statement in full: "Hosni Mubarak has waived the office of presidency and told the army to run the affairs of the country.

Update: 10:08 MUBARAK NO LONGER DICTATOR OF EGYPT.

UPDATE: 9:59 CST

Tanks guarding the presidential palace in Cairo turned their turrets away from approaching demonstrators, eliciting a huge cheer from the crowd, CNN's Ivan Watson reported.

Breaking: Mubarak flees Cairo?

UPDATE: CAIRO - EMBATTLED Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak left Cairo with his family on Friday, a source close to the government told AFP, and a ruling party spokesman said the ruler was now in Sharm el-Sheikh.

'Mr Mubarak has left Cairo with all his family,' the source said.

'He is in Sharm el-Sheikh,' National Democratic Party spokesman Mohammed Abdellah told AFP.

His departure comes on the 18th day of massive nationwide rallies demanding his immediate overthrow. Hundreds of thousands of protesters have rejected concessions made by Mr Mubarak's government and vowed to keep demonstrating until their demands are met.

And his apparent departure to Sharm, a Red Sea resort town in which he maintains a residence, appeared to do little to placate protesters.

'He has to leave the country, our demands are clear,' said Magdy Sabry, one of thousands blockading the state television building in central Cairo. -- AFP

l Arabiya television reported on Friday that President Hosni Mubarak and his family had left Cairo from a military airbase in the suburbs and had travelled to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

It did not give a source for the series of reports on the movement of the president and his family. Al Arabiya said it had confirmed the arrival of the president and his family in Sharm el-Sheikh.

UPDATE: A local government official says President Hosni Mubarak is in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, 250 miles from the capital Cairo, where protesters are deluging squares and marching on presidential palaces and the State TV building.

The official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, said Friday that Mr. Mubarak arrived at the airport in Sharm and was greeted by the local governor.


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