EasyCTF_2018: Zippity

Category: Misc Points: 80 Description:

I heard you liked zip codes! Connect via nc c1.easyctf.com 12483 to prove your zip code knowledge.

Write-up

This challenge was tricky in that you had to know where to look for the census data. Upon connecting, you get some hints on where to look.

# nc c1.easyctf.com 12483
+======================================================================+
| Welcome to Zippy! We love US zip codes, so we'll be asking you some  |
| simple facts about them, based on the 2010 Census. Only the          |
| brightest zip-code fanatics among you will be able to succeed!       |
| You'll have 30 seconds to answer 50 questions correctly.             |
+======================================================================+

3... 2... 1...  Go!

Round  1 / 50
  What is the water area (m^2) of the zip code 93550? 

Essentially, we have to look for 2010 census data. After poking around for quite some time, we get this link on this page. Downloading the archive allows us to complete this challenge by pure Python magick.

# ./solve.py 
[+] Opening connection to c1.easyctf.com on port 12483: Done
[+] Cracking ECDSA...: Cracked!
[+] You succeeded! Here's the flag:
    easyctf{hope_you_liked_parsing_tsvs!}
[*] Closed connection to c1.easyctf.com port 12483

Therefore, the flag is easyctf{hope_you_liked_parsing_tsvs!}.