Rating:

# ASIS Cyber Security Contest Finals 2014: How much exactly?

**Category:** Trivia
**Points:** 25
**Description:**

> 4046925: How much the exact IM per year?
>
> `flag=ASIS_md5(size)`

## Write-up

Googling for ‘4046925’ leads to [NSA DOCID: 4046925 Untangling the Web: A Guide to Internet Research](https://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/untangling_the_web.pdf). Searching that document for “instant messaging” (IM), we find:

> Instant messaging generates five billion messages a day (750GB), or 274 Terabytes a year.

```bash
$ md5 -s '274'
MD5 ("274") = d947bf06a885db0d477d707121934ff8
```

The flag is `ASIS\_d947bf06a885db0d477d707121934ff8`.

## Other write-ups and resources

* <http://dhanvi1.wordpress.com/2014/10/23/how-much-exactly-asis-2014-trivia-25-writeup/>
* <https://hackucf.org/blog/asis-2014-trivia-25-how-much-exactly/>
* <http://www.mrt-prodz.com/blog/view/2014/10/asis-ctf-finals-2014---how-much-exactly-25pts-writeup>
* <http://bruce30262.logdown.com/posts/237386-asis-ctf-finals-2014-how-much-exactly-lottery>

Original writeup (https://github.com/ctfs/write-ups/tree/master/asis-ctf-finals-2014/how-much-exactly).