ARG Toolbox
Main Page > List of Investigations > ARG Toolbox
This page is an archive of helpful tools and resources one might use in the course of solving puzzles typically found in ARGs, including encipher/deciphering, audio encoding, and steganography.
Contents
- 1 ARG Training
- 2 Text-based Tools
- 2.1 Anagrams
- 2.2 Missing letters solver
- 2.3 Ascii85
- 2.4 asciitohex
- 2.5 Ave Maria Cipher
- 2.6 Browserling
- 2.7 Chaffing & Winnowing
- 2.8 Cryptii
- 2.9 CryptoCrack
- 2.10 Cryptomathic
- 2.11 Cryptool-Online
- 2.12 Crypto-Tools
- 2.13 CyberChef
- 2.14 Darkfader
- 2.15 Dcode
- 2.16 HTTP Referer Extension
- 2.17 Iterative Anagram Solver
- 2.18 Kryptographiespielplatz
- 2.19 Link Identifier
- 2.20 Linux Command Line Encode / Decode
- 2.21 md5hashing
- 2.22 Omniglot Conscripts
- 2.23 OPENPGP
- 2.24 PharmaBraille
- 2.25 Polygraphic Substitution Systems
- 2.26 RICHKNI
- 2.27 Rumkin
- 2.28 SNOW Whitespace
- 2.29 SpamMimic
- 2.30 The Black Chamber
- 2.31 WeChall Encryption tools.
- 2.32 Wikibruce
- 2.33 Xlate
- 2.34 XOR / Byte Shift
- 3 Audio Analysis
- 4 Image Analysis
- 5 General Steganography / Tools
ARG Training
Academy
https://gamedetectives.net/academy/
A series of challenges meant to teach to basic elements, techniques, and dynamics of ARGs, made in-house by the Game Detectives.
ae27ff, DNS might not work on mobile.
http://ae27ff.challenge.pt/ ae27ff is a series of 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/
An annual Game Detectives tradition consisting of a series of puzzles unlocking each day over advent, with varying difficulty. Created by the GameDetectives admins.
Enigma Group
A puzzle site that has many categories of learning. They begin as really easy, but then ascend to a more difficult encounter.
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.
Last transmision
A short, interactive, slightly creepy story made by Discord user mai(#9088). Will put your basic puzzle solving skills to the test.
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
Anagrams
http://anagramscramble.com/ Word de-scrambler
http://textmechanic.com/text-tools/obfuscation-tools/word-scramblerunscrambler/ Word scrambler
Missing letters solver
https://www.unscramblerer.com/crossword-solver/
Ascii85
https://www.tools4noobs.com/online_tools/ascii85_decode/
Decodes ascii85 messages. (there's a version for encoding as well)
asciitohex
Converts ASCII to hex and vice versa, as well as to other number-based encryption methods.
Ave Maria Cipher
http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Trithemius-Polygraphiae-71.jpg
Ave Maria cipher.
Browserling
https://www.browserling.com/tools/
Lots of encodings and encryptions.
Chaffing & Winnowing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaffing_and_winnowing http://people.csail.mit.edu/rivest/Chaffing.txt
Everything you need to know about Chaffing and winnowing.
Cryptii
Site with a lot of ciphers.
CryptoCrack
https://sites.google.com/site/cryptocrackprogram/
Has a lot of classical ciphers and more.
Cryptomathic
http://extranet.cryptomathic.com
EMV tag search. TLV (Tag, Length, Value) byte strings into their constituent tags and sub-tags. Useful for analysing APDU traces, responses and so on. CAP calculator. Features many more features.
Cryptool-Online
http://www.cryptool-online.org
Features enciphering (enigma, navajo, vigenere), encoding (ASCII, Code39, Huffman), text analysis, etc.
Crypto-Tools
https://github.com/Hegz/crypto-tools
Set of crypto-tools.
CyberChef
https://gchq.github.io/CyberChef/
MULTIPLE methods of enciphering/encoding, uses more complicated methods and can have more processes going on at once.
Darkfader
https://www.darkfader.net/toolbox/convert/
Online conversion utilities.
Dcode
http://www.dcode.fr/tools-list
Contains a list of mathematical problem calculations, encodings, encryptions, and many more.
HTTP Referer Extension
LEGACY FIREFOX: https://addons.mozilla.org/En-US/firefox/addon/refcontrol/
QUANTUM: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/referer-modifier/
CHROME: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/referer-control/hnkcfpcejkafcihlgbojoidoihckciin?hl=es-419
Extensions for Legacy Firefox, Quantum and Chrome to help modifying HTTP referers.
Iterative Anagram Solver
Decodes multi-word anagrams word by word.
Kryptographiespielplatz
https://www.kryptographiespielplatz.de/index.php?
List of a lot of ciphers. (It's in German, but common sense is enough. Test them out on the part where it says [ausprobieren]
Link Identifier
A tool that will guess what site a link identifier could belong to given the length. Made by Discord user A4.
Linux Command Line Encode / Decode
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897439.aspx
Use linux command line strings to encode and decode.
md5hashing
https://md5hashing.net/hash_type_checker
Allows you to decode many variations of MD5 and Sha ciphers.
Omniglot Conscripts
http://www.omniglot.com/conscripts/english.htm
Has a list of alternate fonts that can be used for writing english.
OPENPGP
PGP and GPG downloads.
PharmaBraille
https://www.pharmabraille.com/pharmaceutical-braille/the-braille-alphabet/
Contains a detailed list of the Braille alphabet, including numbers and punctuation.
Polygraphic Substitution Systems
http://www.umich.edu/~umich/fm-34-40-2/ch7.pdf
Breaking polygraphic substitution systems.
RICHKNI
http://www.richkni.co.uk/php/crypta/freq.php
Word frequency analysis, can be really useful for substitution ciphers with no key.
Rumkin
http://rumkin.com/tools/cipher/
Contains big list of ciphers.
SNOW Whitespace
http://www.darkside.com.au/snow/
Whitespace steganography.
SpamMimic
Hides a message in what appears to be a harmless block of spam.
The Black Chamber
http://www.simonsingh.net/The_Black_Chamber/chamberguide.html
Has a set of text enciphering and encoding methods.
WeChall Encryption tools.
https://www.wechall.net/tools/
Features JPocketKnife, a conversion tool, JDicTac, a bruteforce for homemade ciphers and hashes, etc.
Wikibruce
For text encryption, it features ROT-n, Hexadecimal, Binary, ASCII, Morse, Pattern Recognition, and separating byte data to 8 bit planes.
Xlate
Multiple methods of encoding, including a personalized radix, or base, decoding. (Supports Base 2 - 36)
XOR / Byte Shift
http://otp22.com/xlate/shifts.html
Is used to show all 255 XOR and Byte Shift instances.
Audio Analysis
Audacity
Useful program used for audio inspecting.
Direwolf
https://github.com/wb2osz/direwolf
Software "soundcard" AX.25 packet modem/TNC and APRS encoder/decoder. It can be used stand-alone to observe APRS traffic, as a tracker, digipeater, APRStt gateway, or Internet Gateway (IGate).
- NOTE: Not user-friendly!
DTMF
http://www.teworks.com/dtmf.htm
Dual Tone Multi Frequency tones decoding.
fldigi
https://sourceforge.net/projects/fldigi/ (fldigi)
Can encrypt/decrypt a lot of audio encryption. Manual can be found here.
- NOTE: Not user-friendly!
Ham Radio Directory Downloads
https://radio.linux.org.au/?sectpat=digital
Includes 35 ham radio tools.
- NOTE: It may not work on certain OS, and not all of them are user-friendly.
Kansas City Standard Cassette Audio Data
http://www.dabeaz.com/py-kcs/index.html
Can be used to encode/decode Kansas City Standard Cassette Audio Data.
MM-SSTV
http://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmsstv.php
Slow Scan Television Program. Alternative to RXSSTV.
OTP22 Signal Decoders
https://github.com/otp22/decoders
Directory for multiple methods of encryption used in otp22, ABISM tone decodings (Modified ASCII tones), NATO 5gram decoder, and another XOR program.
RX-SSTV
http://users.belgacom.net/hamradio/rxsstv.htm
A program that deciphers SSTV encryption on audio tracks.
SonicVisualiser
Creates spectographs of audio.
Sorcerer
http://www.kd0cq.com/2013/07/sorcerer-decoder-download/
Has more radio recieving modes than fldigi, like Harris RF-3560 PSTN TIU,IRA-ARQ (ASCII-ARQ), etc. (only for decoding)
Wavepad FFT
http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/fft.html
Audio spectogram analysis.
Image Analysis
Binvis
Gives a visual representation of binary files.
Ceefax
Can be used to upload ceefax images.
EXIF
http://exif.regex.info/exif.cgi
Used to find EXIF data and ID3 tags.
Futureboy
Allows to compare the differences of two images, and unlock steganography with passwords.
GIMP
https://www.gimp.org/downloads/
Free program. Alternative to photoshop. Can export and import raw files.
JHead
Allows for the viewing of jpeg headers, abnormalities, and outgress output.
Magic Eyes
http://magiceye.ecksdee.co.uk/ To solve magic eyes
http://www.easystereogrambuilder.com/3d-stereogram-maker.aspx To make them.
Nonograms
http://nonomaker.com/ Used to make nonograms aaaaand
http://a.teall.info/nonogram/ to solve them.
Outguess
http://filehippo.com/mac/download_outguess/
Outguess steganography.
- NOTE: Only works on mac. Try using a virtual machine for opening it.
Photo Forensics
https://29a.ch/photo-forensics/#forensic-magnifier
Magnifier, clone detection, error level analysis, and more tools.
Pixlr
Online GIMP-style editor.
Punchcards
http://www.kloth.net/services/cardpunch.php
Punchcards simulator.
QR Codes
http://www.qrcode-generator.de/ and https://dnschecker.org/qr-code-generator.php For making QR codes.
https://webqr.com/ and https://dnschecker.org/qr-code-scanner.php For reading QR codes.
Rawpixels
Visualizes .raw files.
Tinkercad
Web-based 3D modeling.
WeChall Tools
https://www.wechall.net/tools/
Features JColorSucker to grab pixel values from images.
Wikibruce
For image steganography, wikibruse can submit delimited list of pixel bytes. Resulting file is a single plane greyscale PNG. (eg: 255,0,255,0,255,0,0,255,0 with width 3)
General Steganography / Tools
Hex Editors
- Online hex editor.
- Offline hex editor (has more utilities).
http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.htm
- Another Offline hex editor but without needing to install it and has scripting.
HTTP referrers
https://addons.mozilla.org/En-US/firefox/addon/refcontrol/
Firefox extension to find HTTP referrers.
Notepad++
VERY useful program. Similar to Notepad but has many more utilities.
OtpXor
https://github.com/otp22/decoders/tree/master/OtpXor
Made by the creator of ae27ff, allows for the xoring of two large files together.
Repl
Website used to run and debug code.
XorJ
https://github.com/crashdemons/XorJ
Made by the creator of ae27ff, allows for the xoring of two relatively small files together.
