ARG Toolbox
This page is an index of helpful tools used to solve the puzzles typically found in ARGs, including ciphers, audio encoding, and steganography.
ARG Training
ae27ff
ae27ff is a series of 37 puzzles that use the typical techniques of most ARGs. They get more difficult the higher you go. Made by Discord user crashdemons.
ARGvent
http://gamedetectives.net/argvent/
A daily series of puzzles over advent, with varying difficulty. Created by the GameDetectives admins.
Levels
A series of puzzles designed to introduce people to ARG solving. They range from easy to very hard. Levels can be gained through active participation on the official forum.
Watching You
https://stvjsmrs.wordpress.com/
Originally forming part of an ARG, the site now houses two series of puzzles - the originals, and a cancelled Advent version. Made by Discord users in Team Look In The Bushes.
Text-based Tools
Cyberchef
https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/
Includes tools to decipher B64, MD5, and other reled hashes.
asciitohex
Converts ASCII to hex and vice versa, as well as to other number-based encryption methods.
Rumkin
http://rumkin.com/tools/cipher/
Has tools to decipher many common encryption methods, including Caesar and Vigenere ciphers.
Cryptii
https://cryptii.com/text/select
An MIT site that decrypts many encryption methods, including Enigma and hex.
The Black Chamber
http://www.simonsingh.net/The_Black_Chamber/chamberguide.html
A compendium of different text-based ciphers.
md5hashing
https://md5hashing.net/hash_type_checker
Allows you to decode many variations of MD5 and Sha ciphers.
Xlate
A multibase data translator made by the creator of ae27ff, crashdemons.
Shift/XOR Report
http://otp22.com/xlate/shifts.html
Made by the creator of ae27ff, allows the visualization of all possible 256 byte shifts.
OtpXor
https://github.com/otp22/decoders/tree/master/OtpXor
Made by the creator of ae27ff, allows for the xoring of two large files together.
XorJ
https://github.com/crashdemons/XorJ
Made by the creator of ae27ff, allows for the xoring of two relatively small files together.
HTTP Referrer Extension
https://addons.mozilla.org/En-US/firefox/addon/refcontrol/
An extension for Firefox to help find HTTP referrers.
HxD
Hex editor/viewer. A very useful alternative to Notepad.
CryptoCrack
https://sites.google.com/site/cryptocrackprogram/
A cipher decryption program. However, it doesn't always work, so use at your own discretion.
Cheat Engine
http://www.cheatengine.org/index.php
While it is commonly used for cheating in games, it is a very helpful memory viewer and editor.
Enigma Machine Emulator
http://enigma.louisedade.co.uk/
A fully working emulator of the German Enigma encryption machine.
a2x2
A tool that will guess what site a link identifier could belong to given the length. Made by Discord user A4.
Caesar Cipher
http://www.dcode.fr/caesar-cipher
Tool used to solve rot-ciphers, is able to bruteforce.
Audio Analysis
DTMF Decoders
http://www.teworks.com/dtmf.htm
and
https://www.djsoft.net/smf/index.php?topic=3512.0
Allow for the decryption of Duel Tone Multi-Frequency audio files.
Fldigi
https://fedorahosted.org/fldigi/wiki
A program that can encrypt/decrypt many different kinds of audio encryption. However, it is not user friendly.
Audacity
A free audio editing software. Can create spectrograms of audio.
RX-SSTV
http://users.belgacom.net/hamradio/rxsstv.htm
A program that deciphers SSTV encryption on audio tracks.
Sonic Visualizer
A free program used to create spectrograms. Generally considered to be better than Audacity when doing so.
Image Analysis
Binvis.io
A tool that gives a visual representation of binary files.
Jeffrey's Image Metadata Viewer
Allows you to view the metadata of images.
FotoForensics
Image metadata and Error Level Analysis.
RawPixels
A website that visualizes .raw files.
Jhead
Hosted by the creator of ae27ff; allows for the viewing of jpeg headers, abnormalities, and outgress output.
FutureBoy
Allows to compare the differences of two images, and unlock steganography with passwords.
GIMP
A free photo editor. A great alternative to Photoshop.
Tinkercad
A web-based 3D-modeling program.
