$ ctf42

factordb.com

Crypto No technique tags yet.
Difficulty Not rated yet

Flag format: TRX{...}

The Emperor, still oblivious to the weakness of his previous encryption, demanded a new, improved method—one that would withstand even the cunning scholars of Greece.

"Decimus Cryptonicus, my most trusted mathematician!" the Emperor bellowed. "Give me an encryption that is both strong and efficient!"

Decimus, though exhausted, was still determined to prove his worth.

"My Lord, instead of many small primes, I shall return to the old ways—a solid foundation of two strong primes, $p$ and $q$, forming an impenetrable modulus $N$!"

The Senate applauded. The Emperor was pleased. Rome would be secure at last.

But Decimus was notorious for overcomplication.

"To ensure the security of $p$ and $q$," he muttered to himself, "I shall add an extra layer of obfuscation. A leak, but not just any leak—one so convoluted that no enemy shall understand it!"

To the Emperor, it was incomprehensible.

To the Senate, it was genius.

"If no one understands it," Decimus reasoned, "surely no one can break it!"

For months, the encryption held. The Emperor sent his messages with unshakable confidence.

But in the dark corners of the empire, the Numerii, Rome’s secret order of cryptanalysts, examined the leak closely.

"This is not a safeguard," one Numerius whispered. "It is a gift."

"He has unknowingly encoded information about $p$ and $q$ within the leak itself," another said. "With effort, we can extract them!"

And so, the Numerii began their work, peeling back the layers of Decimus’s overcomplicated madness.

The walls of Roman cryptography were crumbling once more.

Writeups

Official

No official writeup linked.

Community

No community writeups yet. Solved it? Share how.

Log in to add a community writeup.