Hex and Binary Decoder

Every character a computer stores is a number, and every number can be written in more than one base. Analysts read raw bytes all the time: in packet captures, memory dumps and the odd string a script tried to hide. Two notations come up again and again. Hexadecimal writes each byte as two characters from 0 to 9 and a to f. Binary writes each byte as eight ones and zeros.

The decoder shows you a message written as bytes in one of those two notations. The base setting for this lab is auto. Look at the groups: their length and their alphabet tell you which notation you are looking at. Choose a reading, and the decoder turns each group back into a character.

Only one reading gives readable English, and the flag is inside it. Copy the flag and submit it, including the wrapper.

The lesson carries over to every investigation: before you can understand data, you have to know how it is written down.