rot13

[souleman]

Ok, I brought this up in the before but no one could help me. It is at: http://www.antionline.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=222409
It is in the AO Addicts forum, so I figured I would bring it out here.

A friend of mine sent me an email message. It was encrypted with a program called rot13. I guess it is an old unix program, but I don't have a copy of it. Well, I have spent the last 4 days trying to figure it out, but I just can't get it. Here are the instructions that he gave me for a windows machine:
First, I have to open the file in a text editor.
Second, save the file as a .trp (token ring packet) file.
Third, send the file around our token ring (used for a barcode system). Note, It must run around 13 times (hence rot(ate)13)
Fourth, convert the file back to a text file.
Finally, open the file.

Well, I am having a problem. The file will only go around the ring 11 times before it gives me an error. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong? How can I get the last 2 passes?

[micael]

After a lots of thinking a question.. Have you tried with a broken ring over several mau's ?

[souleman]

I wanted to, but I only have 4 mau's. I don't think that is enough.
I even tried setting up my ring in a figure 8, but that didn't seem to do the trick either.

[micael]

Have you tried to set all adapters in "autosence" mode ? But to get this to work you have to use IBM Turbo TR cards (ISA).. I wish I could help you but Im out of ideas.. Anyone else know how to do this ?

[Terr]

Well, you know this is obviously an application of bit-rot, only accelerated. The computer does a little function on the data thirteen times to simulated bit-rot, and you have to reconstruct the original data framework. The problem is that some programs don't handle the rot13-based messages very well when given them through standard input (because of the funky characters that get included) and can get corrupted, causing the bit rot to spread, which is pretty creepy if you ask me. Fortunately only some of Microsoft's crappier programs are vulnerable.

[KorpDeath]

You could always get a copy of Netscape. It supports ROT-13. At least 4.7 does.

[Cheeseball]

ROT13 wasn't meant to be used for security.....it is a simple caesar cipher.....basically you shift all the letters over 13 to the right, AKA A becomes N, and so on. Just thought I would bring this up...:)

[cwk9]

Aren’t token rings more or less dead? Isn’t most everything cat5 Ethernet wired in an extended star topology? That and the odd FDDI (not sure if that’s the right acronym).

[souleman]

Cheeseball> Basically, I was trying to see how long it would take before someone mentioned that. The post I referenced in the AO Addicts form was basically to let everyone in there know I was being a smart ass, and to go along with it.

cwk9> Not everything. I don't actually use Token Ring at work, but some places still do. It was used in cases where a server was not necessarry, but the computers needed to communicate. They are still in place, because they work extreamly well, its easy to find problems, and it isn't worth replacing (although finding parts is kinda tough). cat5 is outdated for new installiations. Everything is cat5e, and there is a cat6 proposal right now. Fiber is becomming very popular, but it runs much like ethernet (IEEE 802.9 I think). FDDI is actually a fiber offshoot of token ring. It is set up in a ring, not a star.

[ASA]

Did you know that Ceasar (the roman emperor) used rot13 or likely methods to encrypt his messages :)
:cool:

[Cheeseball]

Ceasar did use something close to ROT13, well ok...he was the first "known" user of it, but anyway....that would be why it is called a Ceasar Cipher.....Just thought I would bring that up..:)

[Neall]

You could always just translate it at this page :)

http://www.rot13.com/

[MsMittens]

Originally posted here (http://www.AntiOnline.com/showthread.php?threadid=222546#post483617) by Cheeseball
Ceasar did use something close to ROT13, well ok...he was the first "known" user of it, but anyway....that would be why it is called a Ceasar Cipher.....Just thought I would bring that up..:)

No he's not. Cryptography, the act of hidden or secret text, dates back as far as 450 B.C. in Greece. Ceasar came into power in 59 B.C. Many people believe that Cryptography is only a recent thing but it's not.

The Code Book by Simon Singh is a good historical reference. There's another but I can't remember it right now.

Just FYI.

[ASA]

Originally posted here (http://www.AntiOnline.com/showthread.php?threadid=222546#post483912) by MsMittens


No he's not. Cryptography, the act of hidden or secret text, dates back as far as 450 B.C. in Greece. Ceasar came into power in 59 B.C. Many people believe that Cryptography is only a recent thing but it's not.

The Code Book by Simon Singh is a good historical reference. There's another but I can't remember it right now.

Just FYI.

Ceasar was probably the one to use Rot13 first, he was not the first one who used encryption in the history, which was what I meant and also probably CheeseBall.
Just another piece FYI.
:hiphop: :smokes:

[jcmcb]

The Code Book is great....but it does credit Caesar with the first recorded use of a cypher rather thatn hidding text, which Steganography...