Introduction

Welcome to the Holiday Hack Challenge write-up for 2024. This year we save the holidays in a 3 act event that touches almost all aspects of cybersecurity including ransomware, application security, cryptography, incident response, mobile application security, reverse engineering, scripting, etc... There is always something to learn when completing the Holiday Hack Challenge.

In the Prologue, we are back in the Geese Islands helping the elves pack up and get everything ready to return to the North Pole. Santa is mysteriously gone, but work must carry on. There are games to hack and play and everything seems normal thus far.

In Act 1, we are back at the North Pole as the elves are busy in the front yard with preparations. With Santa gone, Alabaster Snowball and Wombley Cube have stepped up and are trying to lead the effort of Christmas.

In Act II, tension between Alabaster and Wombley is ramping up. Elves are joining sides and an all out snowball war is brewing. Wombley is preparing a cyber attack and has an army of drones!

In Act III, Wombley's forces have ransomwared the Naughty-Nice list, but have mismanaged the encryption keys. Santa has returned and he is not happy with the way things have gone in his absence. It is our task to decrypt the Naughty-Nice list, disable the ransomware, and restore order to Christmas.

Please enjoy my write-up of how I solved the challenges this year. Feel free to reach out to me on email or X.