{"id":1954,"date":"2013-06-11T17:37:04","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T17:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\/blog\/?p=1954"},"modified":"2013-10-23T07:43:43","modified_gmt":"2013-10-23T07:43:43","slug":"malicious-magic-squares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/11\/malicious-magic-squares\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Malicious&#8221; Magic Squares"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Update<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Found one more \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<pre>   L\u00a0\u00a0 I\u00a0\u00a0 S\u00a0\u00a0 T\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0 S\r\n   I\u00a0\u00a0 M\u00a0\u00a0 P\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 T\r\n   S\u00a0\u00a0 P\u00a0\u00a0 U\u00a0\u00a0 L\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 R\r\n   T\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 L\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 S\u00a0\u00a0 E\r\n   A\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 S\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 S\r\n   S\u00a0\u00a0 T\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 S\u00a0\u00a0 S<\/pre>\n<p><strong>Old post<\/strong><br \/>\nAs a kid I loved to solve cross-words, I also published my own (together with various riddles).<\/p>\n<p>I was very fond especially of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Magic_square\">magic squares<\/a> e.g. a classic one:<\/p>\n<pre style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">S \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0A \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0T \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0O \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0R\r\nA \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0R \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0E \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0P \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0O\r\nT \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0E \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0N \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0E \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0T\r\nO \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0P \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0E \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0R \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0A\r\nR \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0O \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0T \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0A \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0S<\/pre>\n<p>and palindromes e.g.<\/p>\n<pre style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">malayalam<\/pre>\n<p>and anything that would be a bit unusual (e.g. 7-letter words with 4 As, partially overlapping words, etc.).<\/p>\n<p>When I learned programming I wrote various cross-word generators including one for magic squares.<\/p>\n<p>Finding magic squares is very easy for 3-, 4-, 5- letters. It gets a bit more challenging with 6-, but it&#8217;s still quite easy and it gets really tough with 7-, 8-, 9- letters.<\/p>\n<p>Having nothing else to do, today I tried to see how my old code would perform taking a small database of malware-related keywords as a base. To my surprise, it actually found a few magic squares for 6 characters!<\/p>\n<p>Here they are:<\/p>\n<pre style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">G\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0 G\u00a0\u00a0 G\u00a0\u00a0 L\u00a0\u00a0 E\r\nA\u00a0\u00a0 P\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 L\r\nG\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 V\u00a0\u00a0 E\r\nG\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 B\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 R\r\nL\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 V\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 N\u00a0\u00a0 A\r\nE\u00a0\u00a0 L\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0 D\r\n\r\nH\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0 L\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 S\u00a0\u00a0 S\r\nA\u00a0\u00a0 T\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 M\u00a0\u00a0 I\u00a0\u00a0 C\r\nL\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 P\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 R\r\nE\u00a0\u00a0 M\u00a0\u00a0 P\u00a0\u00a0 I\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 E\r\nS\u00a0\u00a0 I\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 A\r\nS\u00a0\u00a0 C\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0 M\r\n\r\nI\u00a0\u00a0 S\u00a0\u00a0 T\u00a0\u00a0 B\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0 R\r\nS\u00a0\u00a0 P\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 S\u00a0\u00a0 E\r\nT\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0 P\u00a0\u00a0 A\r\nB\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0 B\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0 N\r\nA\u00a0\u00a0 S\u00a0\u00a0 P\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0 D\u00a0\u00a0 E\r\nR\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0 N\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 T<\/pre>\n<p>If you google these words, you will find out that all of them are actual names of a malware.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bonus<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>How often do you see a code like this nowadays? Addressing via seg:ofs was a real pain in a 16-bit real-mode \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n<pre>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 xor dx,dx\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 mov ax,word ptr fs:[si]\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 add ax,ax\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 adc dx,0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 add ax,ax\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 adc dx,0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 shl dx,12\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 add dx,CS:DSegm0\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 mov es,dx\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 mov bx,ax\r\n\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[...]<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Update Found one more \ud83d\ude42 L\u00a0\u00a0 I\u00a0\u00a0 S\u00a0\u00a0 T\u00a0\u00a0 A\u00a0\u00a0 S I\u00a0\u00a0 M\u00a0\u00a0 P\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 T S\u00a0\u00a0 P\u00a0\u00a0 U\u00a0\u00a0 L\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 R T\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 L\u00a0\u00a0 O\u00a0\u00a0 S\u00a0\u00a0 E A\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 S\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 S S\u00a0\u00a0 T\u00a0\u00a0 R\u00a0\u00a0 E\u00a0\u00a0 S\u00a0\u00a0 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/11\/malicious-magic-squares\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,31,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1954"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2175,"href":"https:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1954\/revisions\/2175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hexacorn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}