By Jason Andress

It's scary how the field of cyber warfare is developing. Not only nation-states but also rogue groups with varying agendas find interesting ways to communicate. Even if you catch them, can you decipher the plot against you? Whether they attack governments, companies or even you personally, the stakes are high. To test your skills, I can only say one thing... It's contest time again!

From those of you that were victi... err participated in the last contest, you'll find a few familiar items, as well as a number of new puzzles as well. This time around we will be testing your observations skills, coding skills, code-breaking skills, and even more. Rest assured that much gleeful cackling took place whilst this series of puzzles was being developed. Additionally, we will be giving away fabulous prizes. Don, tell them what they might win...

- DerbyCon is SOLD OUT, but we have 3 tickets for the first 3 participants to break the code in Part I. Send the decrypted results ASAP to spookywarfare ( at ) ethicalhacker . net.
- Signed copies of the upcoming Syngress book, The Basics of Cyber Warfare, by Jason Andress and Steve Winterfeld go to 3 of those who entered by Midnight on Halloween (Details below).

For this go around, you'll have a chronologically ordered set of clues to help you along your way, couched in the form of a bit of my own personal doggerel. So let's get going.

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How to Play:

As with real cyber warfare exercises, the initial amount of information provided is very minimal. Start with the first clue below. We've given additional hints, but the first clue is all that is required for the best cyber warriors. The clues are as follows: 

1. Fierce women of the black sea guard your starting place
    even if you look for me, you won't see my face.

2. When you find the right spot, you may be confused
    being so rotten, keeps me amused.

3. You may have the pieces, but wait, grab your socks
    you'll find more than you need, stashed in this box.

4. From bad to worse, thats how this puzzle goes
    and for the next task at hand, you'll need to more than impose.

5. Should you reach the end, X you'll find not
    an entirely different symbol, marks this hidden spot.

How to Enter 

DerbyCon Tickets

Since DerbyCon starts next week (September 28 - 30) and is SOLD OUT, so you better get on it. As stated above, simply send the decrypted results of Part I to spookywarfare ( at ) ethicalhacker . net ASAP! If you are one of the first 3, you win. That's it!! Oh... you may even get a shoutout from Jason himself during his DerbyCon talk. ;-)

NOTE: Let us know in the email if you can attend DerbyCon and your contact info.

Signed Copies of "The Basics of Cyber Warfare" & Your Name in Lights!!

As all articles on EH-Net, this contest will remain live indefinitely. However, you only have until Halloween Night (October 31, 2012 12 midnight CST) to make it into the survivors group. But like any good cyber warfare professional, you must report your findings. Send the report to spookywarfare ( at ) ethicalhacker . net with your answers AND how you solved them. We'll have 3 winning reports:

- 1 report will be deemed the best and will not only win a signed copy for the participant but will also be published in the announcement article.
- 2 reports will be randomly selected from all winners, and the authors get signed copies.

After the winners are chosen, a second article will be published in November with the winners, solutions and the best report.

And it all starts... NOW!!

Dr. Jason Andress (ISSAP, CISSP, GPEN, CEH) is a seasoned security professional with a depth of experience in both the academic and business worlds. In his present and previous roles, he has provided information security expertise to a variety of companies operating globally. He has taught undergraduate and graduate security courses since 2005 and conducts research in the area of data protection. He has written several books and publications covering topics including data security, network security, penetration testing, and digital forensics.