Hashing Crypto 101 TryHackme Writeup

Room link: https://tryhackme.com/room/hashingcrypto101
Note: This room is for Premium Members Only. who purchased THM premium membership.

Before we start, we need to get some jargon out of the way.
Read these, and take in as much as you can. We’ll expand on some of them later in the room.

Plaintext — Data before encryption or hashing, often text but not always as it could be a photograph or other file instead.

Encoding — This is NOT a form of encryption, just a form of data representation like base64 or hexadecimal. Immediately reversible.

Hash — A hash is the output of a hash function. Hashing can also be used as a verb, “to hash”, meaning to produce the hash value of some data.

Brute force — Attacking cryptography by trying every different password or every different key

Cryptanalysis — Attacking cryptography by finding a weakness in the underlying maths

This room will likely involve some research. Get good at using search engines, it’s crucial to infosec.

Read the words, and understand the meanings!
Question 1. Is base64 encryption or encoding?

Answer: encoding