You have just arrived at work and walked to your cubicle, and after checking your emails, you are about to get started with your project, when you notice a strange new application on your desktop. The text under the application icon is simply "virus.exe", and this was what the icon looked like:
Thinking this is one of the normal pranks that your coworkers play on you all the time, you laugh as you click on the application to open it. The smile quickly fades from your face as your screen suddenly goes blank. After a few seconds, your screen turns a bright white, and a few numbers appear on the screen:
7 5 4 3
The numbers disappear and the following appears on the screen:
Wtdepy ez xj hzcod ty estd wpeepc
Wtvp eszdp ez rz zy tyez esp wtrse
Te htww mp ty esp xfdtn
Ty esp vpj zq N dslca
You quickly get your phone and take a picture of the screen right before the computer monitor goes blank again. After another few seconds, your screen turns normal again. A dialog box shows up in the center of your screen, and the following is what you saw:
Hello again,
By now, you must have realized that this is indeed no joke. Dont worry, though; if you follow our directions, nobody will be hurt. What just happened to your computer is the same thing that is happening to a select few across the globe right now. You are one of the lucky ones. The task here is simple: below this message is a spot where you can enter four different characters. These characters can be letters or numbers (not case sensitive). All you have to do is put in the right four characters and we will be on our merry way.
Your computer will not be harmed. Don't call the police, don't tell your boss. Don't tell anybody, because if you do, there will be trouble for you ahead. You have an hour to figure out the code. We're watching
Below the message was indeed a spot for you to enter four characters. Next to that was a small button that said 'Enter'. Below that was a set of clues.
00100000 00100000 00100000 01011111 01011111 01011111
01011111 01011111 01011111 01011111 00001101 00001010
00100000 00100000 00101111 01011111 01011111 01011111
01011111 01011111 01011111 01011111 01011100 00001101
00001010 00100000 00100000 01111100 00100000 00100000
00100000 01011111 00100000 00100000 00100000 01111100
00001101 00001010 00100000 00100000 01111100 00100000
00100000 01111100 00100000 01111100 00100000 00100000
01111100 00100000 00111110 01001010 00101000 00110011
00101001 00111100 00100000 00100000 00100000 0010000000100000 00100000 00100000 00100000 00100000 00101110
00101101 00101101 00101110 00001101 00001010 00101110
00101101 00101101 00101101 00101101 00100111 00100000
00100000 00100000 00100111 00101101 00101101 00101110
00001101 00001010 00100111 00101101 00101000 00101001
00101101 00101101 00101101 00101101 00101101 00101000
00101001 00101101 00100111 00100000 00111110 00110110
00101000 00110001 00101001 00111100 00100000 0010000000100000 00101110 00101101 00101101 00101110 00001101
00001010 00101111 00101110 00101101 00101110 00100000
00100111 00101101 00101101 00101101 00101101 00101101
00101101 00101101 00101101 00101101 00101101 00101110
00001101 00001010 01011100 00100111 00101101 00100111
00100000 00101110 00101101 00101101 00100010 00101101
00101101 00100010 00100010 00101101 00100010 00101101
00100111 00100000 00111110 01000001 00101000 00110010
00101001 00111100 00001101 00001010 00100000 00100111
00101101 00101101 00100111 00100000 00100000 0010000000100000 00100000 01101111 01001111 01001111 01001111
01001111 01001111 01101111 00001101 00001010 00100000
00101100 01111100 00100000 00100000 00100000 00100000
01101111 01001111 00001101 00001010 00101111 00101111
01111100 00100000 00100000 00100000 00100000 00100000
01111100 00001101 00001010 01011100 01011100 01111100
00100000 00100000 00100000 00100000 01111100 00001101
00001010 00100000 00100000 00100111 00101101 00101101
00101101 00101101 00101101 00100111 00100000 00111110
01011010 00101000 00110011 00101001 00111100 00100000
00100000 00100000 00100000 00100000 00100000 00100000
x = ?
2^(x-1)=2(4^(x/3)) >x(1)<
.
z = ?
1 = 5
2 = 10
3 = 20
4 = 15
5 = z >z(4)<
HINTS (These are in no particular order)
Hint 1:
Think of conversion with the binary
Hint 2:
The numbers in the beginning correspond to a message
Hint 3:
This one is very simple. Look at the equations. Read it.
Hint 4:
This one involves some math. Try to write the equation on a piece of paper and solve it. Knowing exponent rules is very helpful.