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CyberChef from GCHQ: Cyber Swiss Army Knife

gchq.github.io

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Re: CyberChef from GCHQ: Cyber Swiss Army Knife

#41

Post by defrost »

wrboyce wrote: post #36
JetSetIlly wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GCHQ was the cover name for Bletchley Park but the organisation's name at the time was GC&CS which was established in 1919. So very old and surprisingly predates WW2

What did GC&CS stand for? (Yes I could search for this but I feel like curious conversation is almost a lost art these days.)

I'd have to check my notes from a 40 year old interview with a former Bletchley Park code breaker .. as I recall ...

The official legit name of GC&CS was Government Code and Cypher School .. but IIRC at the time (1919 post WWI) the official name was coined it was putting out letterheads and contracts as G Copper & Cable Services.

That's a dim recollection of what may have been one of many inside jokes | chuckles from WWII Bletchley as retold to an Australia some 30 odd years later so YMMV.

It's in keeping with keeping secrets from the general public & foreign agents via a Boring Name.

The British | Commonwealth WWII company front for their pre Manhatten Project nuclear programme was Tube Alloys .. so they did like a dull metals related cover name.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tube_Alloys

Re: CyberChef from GCHQ: Cyber Swiss Army Knife

#42

Post by stavros »

nailer wrote: post #10
saagarjha wrote: post #2

CyberChef is really useful, and it runs locally, so you never have to send your sensitive data to some random server anymore. The “recipes” feature is quite powerful, too, but I think my favorite thing about it is that I can often just paste random data in and run the “Magic” script and it’ll try to guess the data format for me.

> you never have to send your sensitive data to some random server anymore If you live in the UK you are already sending one entire month of your full personal communications, and three months of your communications metadata, to this government organisation. Pardon the off-topic rant.

What do you mean? All my personal communication is encrypted.

Re: CyberChef from GCHQ: Cyber Swiss Army Knife

#43

Post by notso411 »

stavros wrote: post #42
nailer wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you never have to send your sensitive data to some random server anymore If you live in the UK you are already sending one entire month of your full personal communications, and three months of your communications metadata, to this government organisation. Pardon the off-topic rant.

What do you mean? All my personal communication is encrypted.

Not unless you self sign everything

Re: CyberChef from GCHQ: Cyber Swiss Army Knife

#44

Post by anyoneamous »

nailer wrote: post #10
saagarjha wrote: post #2

CyberChef is really useful, and it runs locally, so you never have to send your sensitive data to some random server anymore. The “recipes” feature is quite powerful, too, but I think my favorite thing about it is that I can often just paste random data in and run the “Magic” script and it’ll try to guess the data format for me.

> you never have to send your sensitive data to some random server anymore If you live in the UK you are already sending one entire month of your full personal communications, and three months of your communications metadata, to this government organisation. Pardon the off-topic rant.

You say "police state", I say "government subsidized backups".

Re: CyberChef from GCHQ: Cyber Swiss Army Knife

#45

Post by Hnrobert42 »

saagarjha wrote: post #2

CyberChef is really useful, and it runs locally, so you never have to send your sensitive data to some random server anymore. The “recipes” feature is quite powerful, too, but I think my favorite thing about it is that I can often just paste random data in and run the “Magic” script and it’ll try to guess the data format for me.

Is the Magic function anything like running `file` on a Linux/Mac?

Re: CyberChef from GCHQ: Cyber Swiss Army Knife

#46

Post by gonzo41 »

anyoneamous wrote: post #44
nailer wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you never have to send your sensitive data to some random server anymore If you live in the UK you are already sending one entire month of your full personal communications, and three months of your communications metadata, to this government organisation. Pardon the off-topic rant.

You say "police state", I say "government subsidized backups".

They won't let you FIO them though..

Re: CyberChef from GCHQ: Cyber Swiss Army Knife

#47

Post by HeatrayEnjoyer »

nailer wrote: post #10
saagarjha wrote: post #2

CyberChef is really useful, and it runs locally, so you never have to send your sensitive data to some random server anymore. The “recipes” feature is quite powerful, too, but I think my favorite thing about it is that I can often just paste random data in and run the “Magic” script and it’ll try to guess the data format for me.

> you never have to send your sensitive data to some random server anymore If you live in the UK you are already sending one entire month of your full personal communications, and three months of your communications metadata, to this government organisation. Pardon the off-topic rant.

Interesting, where are those exact timeframes declared at?

Re: CyberChef from GCHQ: Cyber Swiss Army Knife

#48

Post by anonym29 »

meowface wrote: post #21
nailer wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you never have to send your sensitive data to some random server anymore If you live in the UK you are already sending one entire month of your full personal communications, and three months of your communications metadata, to this government organisation. Pardon the off-topic rant.

Do we have decent reason to believe this is no longer the case for US citizens and the NSA, post-Snowden?

No. No meaningful reforms happened. The secret domestic warrantless surveillance infrastructure that exists in 2024 is either far more technically impressive or terrifying than the equivalent in place in 2013, depending on your perspective.

Re: CyberChef from GCHQ: Cyber Swiss Army Knife

#49

Post by helpfulContrib »

seanhunter wrote: post #6
LelouBil wrote: post #3

I never realized it was a UK governemnt agency developing this !

Yes. GCHQ is the signals intelligence agency that grew out of the work at Bletchley Park on code breaking in WW2. So the UK's version of the NSA. https://www.gchq.gov.uk/ [1] If you click on it they will be able to track you down via your IP address and super seekret cyberspy-fu. Just kidding. .... or am I? Actually I really am. I have no way of knowing either way. Or do I? I mean, how would you know? I really don't…

[dead]

Re: CyberChef from GCHQ: Cyber Swiss Army Knife

#50

Post by fuzztester »

_xerces_ wrote: post #4

I love how you can build complex operations from each of the simple primitives like From Hex->Uppercase->XOR->Remove NULL->To Hex and save them as a recipe. It reminds me of the Linux command line where each program is simple but you can pipe the output of one into another to create a chain that can perform complex data processing.

>I love how you can build complex operations from each of the simple primitives like

>reminds me of the Linux command line

quite true. upvoted.

but, oddly enough, it also reminds me of the Unix command line. maybe because:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Unix

>

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Linux

;)

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