Thought Email List: unsolvable puzzle fun To: excited naive puzzler From: confident naive puzzler Subject: reversing xor with random data was: Re: reversing simple hashes
Okay, I have an idea, let's try to reverse a one-time pad!
Ok, I think I get it! We can do that! It sounds like a fun puzzle. We're basically combining a simulation of the random number generating process with a simulation of the user generating text in order to find what is most likely to be within the pad. It's only useful if you can simulate the random number generator, in which case you can use the encrypted data to improve the accuracy of the model of the user. The xor function is so simple in comparison you can basically pull it out. How could we simplify the problem into something implementable?