Source
r/MrRobotARG•
firstnate

The hidden message in the E-Corp auto-respond email: "It's not a crossword puzzle"

Website

This was a fun one and it really feels like the show creators are talking directly to us and trying to steer us in the right direction...

BACKGROUND:

An employee login was added to http://www.e-corp-usa.com/login/. Using the login info that Angela hacked (joseph.green / holidayarmadillo ) you get this message:

You are attempting to access a user account that has been temporarily locked due to a security violation. Please <a href="mailto:[email protected]">contact the helpdesk</a> to address this issue."

Contacting the help desk, you get this reply:

"Thank you for contacting the E Corp IT Support team. This message is to confirm that we have received your request and have opened a case for your Your case number is: 5B834E0D662F4E004E2A586B5B576E38620F"

Divide this message into unicode (5B83 4E0D 662F 4E00 4E2A 586B 5B57 6E38 620F) You get the chinese characters: 它不是一个填字游戏 Which translates to:

"It is not a crossword puzzle"

The implications for the "Five down, Nine Across" clue

It seems obvious that this is referencing the "Five Down, Nine Across" clue found in the kernel_panic.log file, which seems to correspond to a crossword puzzle found in the following week's episode (with the answer's "IMAP" and "PRISM").

We've been trying hard to solve this sense week 3, and still haven't made more progress, which seems to be why the show creators are sending us this message.

This brings up so many questions. It "it" isn't a crossword puzzle, what is it? Why would they show a crossword puzzle with "5 down, 9 across" if it isn't a crossword puzzle? Do IMAP and PRISM still matter, or are the show creators trying to tell us they don't?

Credit to u/cataschism for figuring out the unicode bit. Very smart.

EDIT: My thoughts on a couple of current theories:

  1. Is the crossword puzzle a QR code? I don't think so for a couple of reasons. First, QR codes are much bigger than a 19x19 grid. Second, the original crossword puzzle was made in 2006, so it seems super unlikely that the shows creators could have had any influence in the creation of the original crossword.
  2. is the crossword puzzle a GO board? The size fits (19x19 grid), but that's also a common crossword puzzle size, so could just be a coincidence. I'm also not sure what it would mean if it were a GO board. How would that be used?

Posted Sep 1, 2016, 3:19 PM UTC · edited

2622
2x-Yassin•

Maybe it means we are not supposed to look for clues in the crossword puzzle.

11
gutig•

Hey guys! I went ahead and found every difference between the crossword puzzle shown on the show and the one that actually exists.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1S1tjYC42naYuoGYQR3vkjN9zl63CqufD4o4h56SKnf0/edit?usp=sharing

4
YouareMrRobot•

wow-it's all there. I don't know where they're going with it, but answers to all of the second colum here.https://tug.org/interviews/bibby.html

1
YouareMrRobot•

OH Goddammit-F-U Esmail, FU! I'm getting Lions, and Tigers and (berenstein/Berenstain Bears), Oh My or something very close to it.

1
phimuskapsi•

HOLY CRAP! That's a big piece if that's the case.

Went back to the episode. In the very beginning of the episode Mobley is literally told to pay attention and listen (caliibrate and listen?). He is then told the story about the Fun Arcade. This reminds me that we haven't really figured out the purpose to the articles that appears on whoismrrobot.com the same day.

Now, if you listen to the story you'll find that the last article on the site does not match the story told in the episode. Maybe something there. I'm going to continue watching and see if there were other clues that we may have missed the first time around.

Edit 2: Also, on the List1.jpg, I just noticed that the 5th name down the word 'budget' is misspelled as 'budgent'.

Edit 3: Maybe something to do with the notebook writing? http://imgur.com/GZTSOy4

3
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
raveJoggler•

If the black spaces are 0s and white spaces are 1s

0111011111001111100

1111011111011111111

1110111000011111111

1111111110111100111

0011100111101110011

0001111111110111000

0000011111011011100

0111110111101110110

0111110011101111111

0111000011111111111

1111001111110011111

1111101111110111111

0001111100011100011

1110111110011111000

1111111111001111100

1111100111100111111

0111011111110011111

0111011101110011111

0000011101110011111

 

It's a 19x19 grid ... not sure where to go from here

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
raveJoggler•

Nope. Im actually not really clear where it came from... just saw it on the sub

1
firstnateOP•

What do you see as the differences? Here is the footage crossword: https://i.imgur.com/MxndcDS.jpg and here is the resolved cw: https://tug.org/pracjourn/2006-3/distract/JoyMorris.pdf

Looks the same to me unless I'm missing something.

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
raveJoggler•

I just meant if its not a crossword but a code of some sort what steps are needed to decode it? Im thinking converting to binary first but 361 isnt divisble by 8

1
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
HulkHunter•

I've been trying to chop some submatrix of 5x9, with no luck. In SE02E09, Elliot says he lives in a 6x8 feet cell. Let's give a try.

1
xRNGesus•

0111011111001111100 1111011111011111111 1110111000011111111 1111111110111100111 0011100111101110011 0001111111110111000 0000011111011011100 0111110111101110110 0111110011101111111 0111000011111111111 1111001111110011111 1111101111110111111 0001111100011100011 1110111110011111000 1111111111001111100 1111100111100111111 0111011111110011111 0111011101110011111 0000011101110011111

��������������������������������

1
Im1Guy•

I use an online binary to text translator and got this

lines:1 words: 4 bytes: 46 md2: df188c15c3e7b1c8f300adedef34bcce md4: ba890207fad13df2c16ad0947f14b6a4 md5: c201c2b4f5161ee76fa29c0989469894 sha1: f718a78070923709b8ed102be5860445abc8af86 sha224: 8863ca573e890295593748e6458454ff6bedfd7aab3b6555b8b067e1 sha256: ddbfb0c82c45ff88fa3c933b7611a69257a028337feaa62e8e96c3f946f19131 sha384: f8c977ab44ff77927ce5bb32f4e9e4cf561607b641b145a0ad4472fea5879f0fea63e09f7418c365b760c5fcc4f0154a sha512: 73571aca2bf256cb32e110267f8ef2b2ae6acd33b08c3c31f92fe45c0041934ef0a49f6108e69ea939bbdc9202a97695c5e9de8eb98b18770d6fbb95920835b6 ripemd128: 897f45eb5aca50fb5d7c276b1860fcee ripemd160: f9ff2c3a586a1e5923e2147faac20d71dd6cec94 ripemd256: ba4bd0b7dd58867fa869503b3a2aca0156c00cfd7db2287397e7a37c769c2e11 ripemd320: 80ac53b929268b9d18cad5cd788e938d509bad69ca3179eb33ef851b37e7da76ecff857b4cbf6060 whirlpool: 07a225786b3b89ce9300072b5d3cb9804d638d3f36703592b32bdb40c93a5b40f80e7efcfe0a8d4135de8ead2668de73d467856a985c6d33ef05c89e2eda51cc tiger128,3: cc049821425e6c42de81b541079ac0ee tiger160,3: cc049821425e6c42de81b541079ac0ee74827ff7 tiger192,3: cc049821425e6c42de81b541079ac0ee74827ff719d9e145 tiger128,4: ccf61b1bdf6d4b5485c7c2e3b4e1e076 tiger160,4: ccf61b1bdf6d4b5485c7c2e3b4e1e076302f0116 tiger192,4: ccf61b1bdf6d4b5485c7c2e3b4e1e076302f0116b9df2115 snefru: 2478bf41e439db640374fdc2a07eca1134838b4bdfaac75a1aae5ebbea7e47f2 snefru256: 2478bf41e439db640374fdc2a07eca1134838b4bdfaac75a1aae5ebbea7e47f2 gost: c63954d3400322d32c595ae5b6f2af955f77c283c1754837fc37e913a0fe8ec8 adler32: 0970207e crc32: 8b2b098e crc32b: c953197f fnv132: 7a1fd8ae fnv164: 0abe8e275220ddce joaat: 8bddd0c2 haval128,3: ef4834aa2ab4a8269f734abc002bbae3 haval160,3: 1b41585e6eb51353fa5581a003f8dad6792c589d haval192,3: 13c897cc72fb5969e0856fafe3a9b72a4a910ac4b461f2f5 haval224,3: 95efd1d97d612904a4d29960b85e3d5899c0b3171166ce03afce3b55 haval256,3: bc8f7beb4ea708c3fb689cdcc0b97e740012e2a86f7e92690851a53269f9cc0d haval128,4: 3438d60c6a5c548344a0f64ea0174277 haval160,4: b6b6b43e597fe010401df610067acae967d86974 haval192,4: d7e8c34a75118dbd83b2ce433a5010733de5b98c9bdcd1a1 haval224,4: 6893a60b79c96bd17e2cc0149c55bc68c034da0c3869c06c3b06cacf haval256,4: be8b79a1b69ad315b19eafd9ac3a8161d72ac37f1b136567f56b69a58ff30a6f haval128,5: 3aea0c99fe9c5ee82e1a3744adcd45ff haval160,5: 6d5e29a7fc7164a2e719f7e4c9732ff62172b0b7 haval192,5: 98b900c396d3f82796a67680f7ec7174151c297cc5a6240e haval224,5: 0cc341ec465f9b2c5028c6158ec2ce3cd9a899ff86b0beee7a7e534b haval256,5: 03f6ba9c46dd5a0ff6f7ad3c5a3effb42dddb8b84d4c50b0525d9d530b078b30

1
raveJoggler•

Are these all hashes? I feel like there wouldn't be a code that's a hash because you wouldn't get any usable info out of a hash.

 

I'm thinking since the total num of digits isn't divisible by 8 I'm wrong about it being binary. But according to the latest ep it isn't a crossword puzzle... so what is it?

1
phimuskapsi•

These are hashes, not decoding.

1
tipsle•

I'm trying to solve the puzzle crossword puzzle, and it has a theme. CTAN, LaTeX, and TeX. Maybe we need to use it to calibrate?

Also, when I got to 44 down I thought it was going to be NARWAL... it was not. There is no bacon at midnight for us redditors! :)

Edit: More about CTAN - https://www.ctan.org/

2
HulkHunter•

https://www.ctan.org/guestbook/item/637495

2
tipsle•

Translates to: What is the address of the remote repository I use MikTex, CTEX installation packages need to connect to a remote repository , at what address ?

Bodinieri month Muyue Ye, 2016-05-27 08:56 CEST

Remote repository address what bodinieri month Muyue Ye, 2016-05-27 08:56 CEST

1
LearnedThief•

So I've got a thought but not sure where it would apply. Maybe it's prison encryption.

If the white spaces on the crossword were transparent, is there anything we can place it over to discover a hidden message? Would it line up with the gibberish on Elliot's journal page?

2
HulkHunter•

This crossword was made in 2006. I highly doubt there's a message inside of it, at least about Mr robot or urls. We are wasting our time with this.

0
Flawd•

It's not exactly the same crossword though. Look at this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1S1tjYC42naYuoGYQR3vkjN9zl63CqufD4o4h56SKnf0/edit?usp=sharing

2
signsandwonders•

Let's do this -> https://www.reddit.com/r/MrRobotARG/comments/50piwo/5_down_9_across_skip_truncation_its_more_obvious/

1
GoatGod997•

I was confused about this email! But now that I know, maybe it means that the crossword puzzle in question is a different type of puzzle that we haven't figured out? As in, something more "meta?"

1