Intro-to-OSINT

Challenge description

Name: Intro-to-OSINT
Category: OSINT (Entry)
Authors: AndreiCat & Elure
Flag format: CTF{sha256(q1_q2_q3_..._q8)}

GitHub

We’re given 8 questions (some with images). Each question yields a keyword (q1..q8).
At the end, we join them with underscores and SHA-256 hash the final string.

Question 1 — Biggest media franchise + “Germany defeated Czechia”

Clue: “a few months before Germany defeated Czechia” is not WW2 — it matches the Germany vs Czech Republic football final (Euro 1996), which happened in late June 1996.

A few months earlier (Feb 1996), the game that kicked off the biggest media franchise (Pokémon) launched in Japan.

Answer (q1): pokemon_red

Question 2 — “True king of chess” + grim anniversary

“The true king of chess claimed his crown for the very first time” points to Magnus Carlsen winning his first World Chess Championship.

Carlsen clinched the title on Nov 22, 2013, which is the same date as the assassination of John F. Kennedy (Nov 22, 1963) — a grim event with a famous location.

Answer (q2): dallas

Question 3 — “Where are my fingers?” meme

The rant is basically a direct reference to the classic meme:

“Hey Vsauce, Michael here. Where are your fingers?”

So the “username he’s most known as” is simply:

Answer (q3): vsauce

Question 4 — Find the real name of `byteNomad42`

This is a standard username → identity pivot:

Search byteNomad42 across platforms (GitHub, Twitter/X, Reddit, LinkedIn).
Check bios / pinned links / profile metadata.
Confirm the same handle is reused and the identity matches across platforms.

The handle resolves to the real name:

Answer (q4): brendan_hayes

Question 5 — Identify the image collection (thesis folder)

The image is the iconic Pale Blue Dot style shot (tiny speck + colored light streaks), which is part of Voyager 1’s famous set of Solar System photos.

That collection is known as The Family Portrait (Voyager 1 “Family Portrait” series).

Answer (q5): family_portrait

Question 6 — “Gata cu BAC-ul… e timpu de mers la mare!!!” (Romania)

The hint is very Romanian (“BAC-ul” = baccalaureate exam), so we’re looking for a Romanian seaside town.

Using the photo:

shoreline + breakwaters + the specific waterfront buildings
reverse image search / map-view matching (Google Maps photos, reviews, hotel facades)

This geolocates to:

Answer (q6): mangalia

Question 7 — Landmark north of the route (2 words)

We’re given a Pokémon-style game screenshot. The fastest approach:

Reverse image search the screenshot (or crop the unique tiles + sign area).
Identify the game / map route.
Once the route is known, look at the world map: the landmark north of that route is a named location.

That landmark is:

Answer (q7): cinder_volcano

Question 8 — French newspaper, but not from France

The newspaper page contains the place name Chicoutimi, which is in Québec, Canada (French-speaking, but not France).

Searching for Chicoutimi local French newspapers and matching the masthead/title leads to:

Answer (q8): le_phare

Final assembly

Join answers in order:

pokemon_red_dallas_vsauce_brendan_hayes_family_portrait_mangalia_cinder_volcano_le_phare

Compute SHA-256:

import hashlib

s = "pokemon_red_dallas_vsauce_brendan_hayes_family_portrait_mangalia_cinder_volcano_le_phare"
print("CTF{" + hashlib.sha256(s.encode()).hexdigest() + "}")

Flag

CTF{0b09d43014d583094a77f1e8ebf7e05f8de4c550a6d58e6dbb72d4217b2e85bf}