# Ok, puzzle nerds, time to step up and show Uncle Sam your skilz **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 7, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859 "2010-07-07T14:35:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859/1 "2010-07-07T14:35:23Z")
The military has established a new organization called Cyber Command, linked to the ultra-secretive NSA. Like any good military office, they have an escutcheon. And on that escutcheon, there is a code: “9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a” It is said that the code somehow relates to the mission of Cyber Command. Get your puzzle solving boots on and let me know what it means. Because I have no clue, and I’ve tried EVERYTHING to figure it out. (Which means I googled it and nothing substantive came up. I surrender.) ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859/2 "2010-07-07T14:43:47Z")
I ran it through the Antikythera mechanism and then through the Enigma machine. So far the output consists of: **14 k of g in a f p d**. Is this any help? In all seriousness, could you link a site with the escutcheon and such, in case there are additional clues? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859/3 "2010-07-07T14:49:42Z")
Well, a 128-bit hex string smells like an MD5 hash, but I didn’t get any results from the standard MD5 dictionaries. So it’s not a common word or variation thereof. That’s all I got. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859/4 "2010-07-07T14:52:41Z")
Moved MPSIMS --\> The Game Room **twicks** , former puzzle professional, who doesn’t have a clue ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859/5 "2010-07-07T14:55:32Z")
Well, the only letters are e, c, a, f. Those form a cross under your left hand on a qwerty keyboard. Does that help at all? ETA: Also, there’s lots of 9s and 2s, but no 6 and only one 0 and one 5, which occur together. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859/6 "2010-07-07T15:05:20Z")
There’s a ‘b’ as well. It’s hexadecimal; the letters a through f represent ten through fifteen. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859/7 "2010-07-07T15:19:16Z")
158 196 193 41 73 164 243 20 116 242 153 5 140 226 178 42 ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859/8 "2010-07-07T15:20:08Z")
One source out there says the solution is “Poder Cybernetico” which would be Dog Latin for “Protect the Internet.” Dunno if I buy the guy’s explanation of how he got to “Poder Cybernetico” but it makes sense from a “mission statement” direction. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859/9 "2010-07-07T15:31:20Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > In all seriousness, could you link a site with the escutcheon and such, in case there are additional clues? [Link.](http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/solve-the-mystery-code-in-cyber-commands-logo/) It seems if you also submit your correct answer to Wired you can win a prize or two. ---
**Author:** ![bl4ckd4hli4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dc4da7/32.png) [@bl4ckd4hli4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bl4ckd4hli4)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859/10 "2010-07-07T15:47:33Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > One source out there says the solution is “Poder Cybernetico” which would be Dog Latin for “Protect the Internet.” Dunno if I buy the guy’s explanation of how he got to “Poder Cybernetico” but it makes sense from a “mission statement” direction. he got that from [niconnect.com](http://niconnect.com)’s qr code. he found the site by googling 9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859/11 "2010-07-08T15:52:08Z")
It’s been solved. It’s a simple MD5 hash of the Cyber Command’s mission statement. ```auto echo -n "USCYBERCOM plans, coordinates, integrates, synchronizes and conducts activities to: direct the operations and defense of specified Department of Defense information networks and; prepare to, and when directed, conduct full spectrum military cyberspace operations in order to enable actions in all domains, ensure US/Allied freedom of action in cyberspace and deny the same to our adversaries." | md5sum 9ec4c12949a4f31474f299058ce2b22a - ``` Lame. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859/12 "2010-07-08T16:05:09Z")
Man, I tried that, and a million variations on it, but the version of the mission statement I found had an Oxford comma after “synchronizes” and a hyphen between “full” and “spectrum”, so, naturally, its hash didn’t match. Double lame. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859/13 "2010-07-08T16:46:31Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Man, I tried that, and a million variations on it, but the version of the mission statement I found had an Oxford comma after “synchronizes” and a hyphen between “full” and “spectrum”, so, naturally, its hash didn’t match. > > Double lame. I actually tried it too, but forgot to truncate the newline at the end of the statement. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ok-puzzle-nerds-time-to-step-up-and-show-uncle-sam-your-skilz/545859/14 "2010-07-08T17:00:42Z")
It means “I wish Delta Force would stop stuffing us into lockers.”