Friday, August 8, 2008

Coded Message at DharmaWantsYou.com 112

This morning when you log in to DharmaWantsYou.com there are random characters that appear within the bagua where the words, Volunteer Assessment Commencing Soon, should be. The characters appear to be a code or scrambled words, and the shapes that make up the bagua flash and pixelate. This doesn't happen right away, but after a few seconds, and they do cycle through regularly.

One set of all-lower-case letters stands out, and displays longer than any other. The random letters are an anagram for "I am on the inside". This looks likes a message from RuckusGuy, letting us know he's hacked into the Dharma Wants You website. Hans Van Eeghan wont be happy about that...



*Thanks to Zort for e-mailing about this and for the video capture, and to Broken Halo for posting about this first!

112 comments:

Ange said...

Way to get on this today Zort. Hopefully we'll have some screen caps soon, but there are a few right now at Dark UFO.

Zort70 said...

Now for the hard part, decoding the messages !

Ange said...

I just embedded the video to the main post Zort. Thanks for doing that!

Ellen said...

Good catch, Zort!!!
bbl!
xxoo

Fenris said...

So far I have
v gXbC
EUgowkAAR
wEIWTgnvfR DtT

PCztBOIrDIYYful
RHGxrMAi

tsniaihedieomn

BUoKh Rly UK
mrlQ

N
UmwbpaONFDO
tuRBoYpvWxh
lAoyYPAf

from it, but that video is going a bit cranky.

Thrasher76 said...

Yay!! Something different! Good one Zort!

I hope something else happens soon to keep it going.

Zort70 said...

Here are some more

vxip YfK
WpmESTrYFpLtlt E
BYhNPLgN

qj GZzL US
moiJtsynYC

SC fF tB qYDJXb
A

MpLe LWEKGJAx
deZY nrB X Osh

SNnxn QBYQ gn
PELjABpjBxzWz
PoCeZ

Thrasher76 said...

Hey Fenris!! Good to chat again!!

I get the same when I can get the video to work. I have no idea what it means, we need to find the key to the code then we can solve it.

Zort70 said...

More

M
DXvdaTCiuOLKm

n
CfjLJmvXNMSQIF
OMgyMo bs

AUqpKTnqNcLqny
QtIpIDuZe

XUtCE R joRGBI
MvdRCaXmwLRtf
Gz y eEf

sLt cgDH
mBzOvxZHtNIC
Cd

KrjdpcaBrLNX nD

Zort70 said...

Just a small word of warning

I'm not 100% sure I've got the upper case I and lower case l correct in all those above.

memphish said...

Well it's Friday morning and when I log on DWY I get the same ole same old Coming Soon message.

Fenris said...

I have more:

v gXbC
EUgowkAAR
wEIWTgnvfR DtT

PCztBOIrDIYYful
RHGxrMAi

tsniaihedieomn

BUoKh Rly UK
mrlQ

N
UmwbpaONFDO
tuRBoYpvWxh
lAoyYPAf

w tkMNFm nJt u
uCHwWTaAAK
mC

nWFQE NM svrd
Vpgb

tfwZ bqH Ua
wCdyFrMAhSW
F jcqpO

SeKItDNKIl
jeTfHwVHcFS

r bwKzEUszl
yRCgtBBZAI
yLHwqOrs

Z Tl s nuD
Umdonx

Ds qwc
BQCXccCXBiNb
WJ

BnT xKf
txiMZjuGJ C

dsheiteamnnioi

zin tBdcxkenPBY
kseKvrXNK
JFYWJEOcl

bblJWbM
dNIXtuymYymFKx
fumTExKS

(note: kinda hard to tell the lowercase L's from the uppercase I's, so whenever you see one of those in this list it could be the other)

I don't think this is complete. I just started whacking screencaps off when it started.

Fenris said...

Lol Zort. We both came to that conclusion about the l's and I's huh? :)

Fenris said...

Hey Thrasher, good to see you :)

memphish said...

Oh, I was impatient. You have to wait on it, huh.

Zort70 said...

To save putting them all in the comments I've posted my best guess, with no guarantees of accuracy at :

www.zort.co.uk/page.asp?code=lostdwy

Zort70 said...

nehndaeioismti is the only one in all lowercase, and it is displayed the longest time, so this may be the key we need.

Fenris said...

Zort, dsheiteamnnioi is also in lower case (I just verified on my screen cap). Although it's not on the screen as long. I noticed the long freeze for that other one too. Interesting.

Tess315 said...

I knew I went to bed to early last night. Good job zort!!

Zort70 said...

fenris - I missed that one from my list. I'll add it.

Zort70 said...

tsniaihedieomn

is also all in lower case

Zort70 said...

I've jsut had another look at the DWY, and the letters are changing.

There is a different set now, I think they are the same number but the code (if that is what it is), is changing each time the screen flashes them up.

Zort70 said...

That should be 'I've just...'

Fenris said...

The plot thickens. Hmmm, well that's all I have time for this morning, so good luck cracking it guys. :)

Tess315 said...

Do you think there's any significance in what section of the bagaua changes when the letters are flashed up?
Or it's just something random?

Zort70 said...

From what I can see the bagaua changes are the same each time.

Also the randomness happens approximately a minute after the previous randomness ended.

BarbaraJay said...

The game's afoot! Yay! I have no idea how to decode the message. There doesn't appear to be enough vowels for these to be anagrams, which exhausts all of my skills.

Zort70 said...

barbarajay, I'm sure that if it is a code this is some sort of encryption, but with either a time based or rotating encryption key.

It is going to very difficult to decode without some sort of handle on what that key is.

Maybe the email that may or may not be sent out will contain a hint ?

Zort70 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

i think the only "code" that has a meaning, is the "tsniaihedieomn" ..or whatever it is scrambled to.
the message they want us to know for now is that "i am on the inside".

my 2 cents

BarbaraJay said...

Hi, broken halo. "I am on the inside" appears to be the main message. Lostpedia reports anagrams as well as patterns in the flashing bagua as Sayid's Girl mentioned.

Tess315 said...

I got 32 sets of letters. Does that sound right to everyone else?

Zort70 said...

I managed to get 36 I think.

As a lot of people are saying now, the only significant one so far is the one that is always in lower case and the one that stays on the screen the longest it is always an anagram of 'I am on the inside'

Tess315 said...

Thanks zort.

Zort70 said...

I've just got a comment posted on the You Tube video that I uploaded :

smj0724 has made a comment on Dharma Wants You Code:

"I am on the inside"

Dennis said...

Nice work everyone!

I have confirmed that "I am on the inside" is in the flash source code:

_loc_2 = ["I", "A", "M", "O", "N", "T", "H", "E", "I", "N", "S", "I", "D", "E"];

I'm updating the front page now...

memphish said...

So I need a "spoiler" and fair game ruling. I've been quiet over here most of the morning because while people over here were still working on what the message might be I'd been over to DarkUFO and seen the "I am on the inside" message via someone decompiling the flash and finding the anagram generator.

So my question is a) when does it become time appropriate to post something another fan site has uncovered here? and b) more generally is decompiling the flash fair game? and c) how do you decompile flash?

Also, is there some basic primer we could put on the front about how to take screen caps and video. Great job on that Zort, but I don't have a clue how to do those sorts of things short of shooting video or taking photos of my computer. I know it's browser specific, so maybe we could start with Firefox, a browser I know many use and go from there.

Tess315 said...

That's a good question memphish. When is it appropriate to post answers/clues from another site?
Maybe we should just say they found something at so and so's if you want to go look. I don't know.

As far as decompiling flash, I think they did that in TLE didn't they?

Zort70 said...

Memphish To capture a single screen shot I just use the 'Print Scrn' button and then paste it into an image editor, like Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop.

To get the screen captured for a movie is slightly more complex and I have a piece of software that allows me to do that. There are many around but I use the one from http://www.totalscreenrecorder.com/

It allows me to save in flash video format so it is easy to upload to YouTube.

Tess315 said...

memphish
I found a tutorial on screencaps for IE during the last game. I think I still have the link if you're interested.
As far as getting video or decompiling flash haven't got a clue.

Going out to get some lunch BRB.

Tess315 said...

zort
That's how I do screen caps too.

Zort70 said...

Also if you press the Alt key and Print Scrn at the same time then you just get the active window. e.g. just the browser window, not the whole screen.

memphish said...

Thanks for the tips. Maybe we could create an ARG 101 with them like we did Blogger 101 back on the main TLC blog.

I have a Mac which doesn't have a Prnt Scr key, so I actually have to do Command + Shift + 3 or Command + Shift + 4 to print screen. And it's the kind of thing I have to google repeatedly to remind myself what the key combo is.

Zort70 said...

Sorry, I'm not much help with Mac's as I don't use them very often (twice in the last 3 years !)

Dennis said...

memphish said... So I need a "spoiler" and fair game ruling. I've been quiet over here most of the morning because while people over here were still working on what the message might be I'd been over to DarkUFO and seen the "I am on the inside" message via someone decompiling the flash and finding the anagram generator.

Solving the clue just by decompiling the flash is basically cheating. (Although Hoodlum could have at least scrambled it in the source code....)

Posting the answer here that you found somewhere else, and not giving credit to the source is also cheating.

So to answer your questions "When does it become time appropriate to post something another fan site has uncovered here?

I'll leave that up for our community to decide.

I saw that at DarkUFO as well, and was waiting to post something until someone from here solved it. Who knows how long it will be until we get the next clue, so there's no rush.

Certainly a bigger site like DarkUFO has more people, and should be able to solve things quicker. So, there's a good chance we won't solve it first, and the answer technically becomes a spoiler. But I think with TLE, we always posted the answer from other sources as soon as it was found by anyone. And the credit went to the person who originally found it (the source), and the first person to email it to the admins or post in the comments.

As far as decompiling flash, you need a special program to do that as well. The most popular is the Sothink SWF decompiler. It runs about $80, but I think they have a free 30-day demo. How to use it is a little beyond the scope of this post, but maybe I'll write something up if I get a chance.

Tess315 said...

I didn't know about the alt key zort thanks for that tip.

memphish said...

Dennis said: Posting the answer here that you found somewhere else, and not giving credit to the source is also cheating.

Ah, that does a lawyer (and editor's) heart good. No plagiarism.

So what do we think people? Do we want to know fast? Figure it out ourselves? You get an hour? Anyone have any ideas?

BTW, I just found this program Jing that lets you capture video and images for free. I'm still playing around with it, but it looks pretty good. It also lets you annotate images with text and arrows and the like. It works with another site Screencast.com.

Fenris said...

I am always a little annoyed at people decompiling flash or hacking websites. It just makes the game unstable and with Hoodlum doing it that doesn't need any help. Lol.

Anyway good work on finding and cracking the code guys! Nice to see something is happening that hasn't already been spoiled by people hacking the website.

maven said...

It's good to wake up the morning to some action! Good work everyone. I'm going to leave the screen captures, etc. to better minds than me! There's only so much this old broad can handle! LOL

There is a fine line as to when and if we post the "answers" from other sites. We do have a lot of great minds here, but the other places seem to have a lot more contributors working around the clock! I think if you get an answer before it's found here, you should so "So and so found this out at so and so site. If you want to know NOW, go there."

maven said...

Hey, Fenris! Hope you're treating our Ange well! LOL

Tess315 said...

By the way can anyone suggest a good anagram site? I took those letters to a site and it gave me nothing.

Dennis said...

The only one I know is at Wordsmith.org/anagram

ib4uc said...

Something, finally! Good work guys.

memphish said...

The way I do anagrams is to put the letters into a triangle. But I'm not particularly great at multi-word anagrams.

Fenris said...

Maven - Of course!

Fenris = Proper Gentleman :)

btw Ange says Here's an Anagram site

Dennis said...

Ok, I created a new ARGs 101 blog. As soon as I get some stuff posted on there I'll give you the address... maybe help.LostARGs.com...?

maven said...

Dennis: Thanks for getting that together. Even though I may resist actually doing the more "complicated" stuff, I do want to learn about it!

maven said...

So it seems we have our Persephone on the inside now! LOL

Tess315 said...

Thanks Dennis and Ange via Fenris.

Tess315 said...

lol
Just checked my link. That's the one I used.
I guess I just don't know how to use it properly. :)
Thanks again.

Unknown said...

Hi everyone!
So, good news, something moving! I was getting bored and I checked again the web only now. So, do you think there's something more than the message from our dear "Black Swan"?

Capcom said...

Huzzah! Great going Zort, and everyone else who took the time to type up all the messages and links!

I agree with everything that Fenris said about posting what we find elsewhere, etc. And I'm also for following what we did on TLE as a guide. Everything that the LoCos and Admins did for that worked prefectly there. :-)

Capcom said...

Zort, I love the pics of the construction on your site! Ancient archeology indeed! :-D Must be hard to see that brick wall after living with the open conservatory before. Can't wait to see the finished results.

maven said...

Ok...I just got a message from Jesse Heiman on FB! On a previous message in which I told him about our little ARG blog here he answered "ok". Now he messaged me and said "Can I buy you a drink? :)" What should I do?

Anonymous said...

Maven Your a Married woman!!!!! lol

maven said...

Yeah...I'm sure hubby will love me meeting a stranger for a drink who's 20 years younger than me! Doesn't Jesse know I'm a 50+ year old Grandma! LOL

I did reply and said I'd love to meet with him and discuss OGR and Dharma! But I'm not much of a drinker! LOL

Capcom said...

Reply, "Why should I trust you?" :-)

TakesaVillage said...

If it looks like orange juice Maven,
don't drink it.

maven said...

LOL. I don't know if this for real or not! I'm so naive! And thanks for the warning about the OJ, takes a village!

ColdUpHere said...

arhg!!! I wish I didn't have a major flood and 3 active volcanos to deal with....

maven said...

You have your plate full up there in Alaska, colduphere! Be careful!

Tess315 said...

Oh my gosh maven. I bet you're the only one whose been asked out in an ARG lol
You just made my day. :)

ColdUpHere said...

I'm just waiting for the point we get to schedule the first TLEC/OGR/LostARGs wedding.....based on the Dharma Initiatives 32 points of compatability.

maven said...

Well, hubby's first reaction was NO WAY! LOL I'd be a little nervous if this is for real. I'm hoping it's part of the game. I'm definitely going to try to strike up a friendship with him. I know his lips are probably sealed re The Project and DWY, but you never know what might slip!

Could: Can I buy you a drink? be some kind of code? LOL

Ellen said...

LOL! Maven, you go girl!
Ask him what kind of drink...(oj perhaps? ;D...)
xxoo

Capcom said...

OT, is anyone watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics?? It's so beautiful.

maven said...

Will be watching it tonight (although I'm going to DVR it for a while...I'm sure there are tons of commercials and fluff.)

Anonymous said...

more than half of them look like cities or countries like US NYC AU etc etc

TakesaVillage said...

dennis, is there a new annagram up at DWY,or just another grouping?

Beverly said...

colduphere,

Hubby and I will be in Alaska the last week of August. What's going on up there? Should we be worried?

Black Swan said...

Hey guys! Good work Zort & Co. and thanks for all your hard work today! So, we have a guy on the inside? Couldn't be "Dan Bronson" unless you count hacking the DI website as being on the inside, right?

Maven, you naughty girl! Fooling around with a younger man on the web! But, yes, definitely take him up on it... you never know when he might slip up, especially after a couple drinks. LOL!

capcom, yes, watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Wow! I'm loving it!!!!!! (maven, even some of the commercials are amazing... like the SuperBowl)

hi, takes a village (love the avi) I think it's just another grouping of letters. I came up with 45 groupings of letters today, only to realize that they are just constantly changing ...duh, me...

Tess315 said...

capcom
Yes watching the opening ceremonies also.
My daughter keeps saying cool and wow and alot of other adjectives.
Now she's finding the countries on the globe. :)

Black Swan said...

hi, sayid'sgirl! It's a learning experience for me, too.. haha (I'm googling the countries I don't know location of)

Tess315 said...

codysmom
Cool!! :)

Ellen said...

wow...that is all I can say. The opening ceremonies in Bejing were incredible!!!
The last part, lighting the cauldron was absolutely amazing...
xxoo

Black Swan said...

I agree, ellen, wow! loved it!!!!

Black Swan said...

I meant to put this in earlier.. Here's a link to a site that has all kinds of ARG type helpers...

http://www.unfiction.com/resource/otools/

Black Swan said...

Oh, and this (from zap2it.com)

There are five stages of grief for a Lost fan, just as there are five stages of grief for anyone. Here are the five stages:

Denial

"No way, that can't be the end. We don't know if Jin's really dead! Where did Des/Penny go off to? Why did John Locke get booted off the Island? How did Walt age approximately 37 years since leaving the Island? Surely there must be an episode ahead to explain one or more of these things!"

Anger

"Take your frozen donkey wheel, Darlton, and shove it where the sun don't shine. I've got your negatively charged exotic matter right here, guys. It's called 'my fist in your face' for making me wait eight months for new material."

Bargaining

"OK, fine, fine, we'll play the online, alternative reality game (ARG). Sure, you've essentially negated the previous incarnations, all but calling us fools for trying to glean any essential information from them, but hey, it's shiny, it's new, and it's sorta kinda Lost, so that's OK, right? Right?

Depression

"Sometimes, an ARG is just an ARG."

Acceptance

"The writers, producers, and actors on Lost don't live to serve me. And God willing, no bartenders in the state of Hawaii will serve any of the writers, producers, or actors of Lost, lest they get killed during Season 5."

LOL!!!!

maven said...

Codysmom: Thanks for that. Gave me a good chuckle.

And, so far, this Opening Ceremony is unbelieveable!

ColdUpHere said...

lostit: everything is fine. The volcanoes are 1500 miles away from Anchorage. How long are you visiting for?

Ange said...

Hi gang, it's 7:29am in the UK and I just got my Dharma Security Breach mail. If I were home it would be 2:30am LOL. I guess I really am on the early list!

ColdUpHere said...

anything new in it or the source code?

Anonymous said...

"good luck my old friend hans"

and "important" like a thousand times. but i don't think that's helping.

Anonymous said...

How did you see the source code? The e-mail require username and password :(

Anonymous said...

That's my ? also... I can't get to it.

Zort70 said...

I've not got my security email yet, but it has been a slow day for emails all round.

Capcom - The concrete has now been poured for the foundations, we put together a time capsule with all sorts of things including some LOST Community / LOST ARGS related print outs. If you want to know what you'll have to come and excavate !

Ellen said...

Well, got my email this morning in my inbox...spoiled. :(
Oh well, such is life I guess.

OT:
I really enjoyed watching the opening of the games in Bejing...what a spectacular presentation! I had the honor of being able to see the games in LA in 1984, and then the 1996 games here in Atlanta. I think the one last night was the best I've seen so far.

Thanks for the chuckle, Codysmom! And for the link to the tools resource - VERY helpful!!

Hi Ange!! Hope you're having fun!
xxoo

Unknown said...

username : iamontheinside
password : banksclaw

For those who dont know it yet. :)

Ellen said...

Re the email we got today,
When I click on the bottom link that says "if you can't see this click here", there is no longer a login box. Guess they took it down now that the email has been "officially" released.

xxoo

Ellen said...

brewski-do you still have to log in?
When you did, did it just take you to the email, or did something else happen?
xxoo

memphish said...

I just got the email. In the source code it says:

Good luck my old friend Han

That's all the extra I see. I didn't need any kind of password or username.

memphish said...

Oops, I cut off the s in Hans.

memphish said...

When I clicked the link in my email it took me to this web address:

http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/site/emails/0808.php?email=memphishhp@gmail.com

which includes my email address. Maybe that was related to the username and password.

MeWantsDharma said...

Hi!
This is my first post here, but I have been following this blog for a while.
I didn't receive the email yet... but there seems to be a new email for 08/09: http://www.dharmawantsyou.com/site/emails/0809.php
It has a login box, but the "iamontheinside" and "banksclaw" don't work...

memphish said...

I hope that means we'll get more today MeWantsDharma!. Thanks for posting.

Unknown said...

@ellen
No nothing else happened it had just brought me to the email screen, which makes me wonder why they had it password protected in the first place . oddness.

Ellen said...

I think because some of our LOST fans are a little quick on the draw...or it could have been "leaked" (intentionally, I'm sure!) and this is all part of the game. I don't think they want enthusiastic fans jumping ahead unless they want them to...who knows.
xxoo

Ellen said...

brewski-
I gave you kudos for being the first to post that on My Blog anyway! I thought that was a great deduction...
xxoo

Unknown said...

Whoop thanks alot ellen ! :D one of the only things ive ever been right about in this ARG :)
well im gonna try to crack the next email pass now thanks for that link "mewantsdharma" :)

Capcom said...

Awesome Zort, a time capsule!!! :-D

Welcome, Mewantsdharma!

memphish said...

New Post!

Tess315 said...

memphish
The email link had my email address in it too.
Do you think this is part of their security? Maybe a way to track whose hacking their email? If it can even be done that way, cause I don't know.
The original emails didn't have your address in the url.
Or maybe it's just a way of tracking when people get/look at their emails. I don't know.
I'm just probably thinking it's something when's it's nothing. :)