I looked further and found each cipher was simply doing a
character offset, meaning each cipher was a Caesar Cipher.
The offsets were 70, 97, 116 and 101, respectively. If you
look up the corresponding ASCII code for those numbers, you
get the word “Fate”. I tried out this new decoding strategy
and was able to successfully decode a directory of MaGuS’
files. I had broken the code! MaGuS was using what is known
as the Vigenere Cipher, and for that particular directory,
“Fate” was the pass-phrase.
I recently rewrote the code in Javascript just for fun. I'll have to post it somewhere someday.
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Tangentially related, I once stole a 4-character AIM screenname from someone who infected a computer at my school with some backdoor. I found his IP address via `netstat`, and then was able to access his C: drive because Windows File Sharing was turned on with anonymous access. I guess he didn't even have a firewall to block the port. I copied his registry database, and decrypted the AIM password and changed it. He got it back by using AOL's password reset by email tool.
