STORY DRIVEN OSINT CTF

easy
medium
hard
insane

Where’s Klumgongyn

Briefing

Greetings, Special Agent.

We have quite a strange case on our hands today. Our Overseer Klumgongyn, has gone missing in action. Now don’t be alarmed, I don’t mean this in any dangerous way. Lately the company chat has been used as a dumpster for GIF wars and edgy memes. Klumgongyn was so fed up with this, that he took one of the spaceships and warped to an unknown location.

He says it’s a “surprise vacation” and won’t come back for another two weeks. This is of course unacceptable behavior and we need to find him. After arrival he sent a picture with the message “see you in two weeks memelords”. We need you to geolocate the image so we can send in a retrieval unit to pick him up.

Whether we’ll actually find him once we’re there is another issue. Shapeshifting alien lizard like creatures are hard to spot. They’ve been posing as politicians for years now and nobody’s really caught on to them either. You have 24 hours to locate Klumgongyn. After that we’ll start refusing to reimburse his travel expenses.

As always, Special Agent, the contract is yours, if you choose to accept.

Materials

Answer Instruction

Use the answer to unlock the flagfile, this will reward you with your badge.

Use the Country and Streetname to form the answer.

Example: turkey-street-name

Flagfile

Be advised, the flagfile is an encrypted ZIP. Make sure your OS supports the ZIP format. Ensure the password contains no hidden characters or formatting, paste in Notepad first if the password doesn’t seem to work.

Download Flagfile here

PS: Don’t forget to claim your Coins and XP, by posting your card in the #card-brag channel in Discord.

Official Write-up

Provided here is the official write-up, it does contain the answer. Use this if you’re stuck, or want to verify if you got the answer correct.

Where’s Klumgongyn

Our alien friend Klumgongyn has taken an impromptu vacation in protest of excessive GIF usage, leaving only a photo as a clue to his location. The goal is to identify the exact street location in the Maldives where the photo was taken.

Available Materials

  1. Vacation photo from Klumgongyn
  2. Context that it’s a tourist location
  3. Information about format requirements

Solution Path

Step 1: Image Analysis

Look for:

  1. Architectural style
  2. Environmental clues
  3. Tourist infrastructure
  4. Tropical setting
  5. Ocean proximity

Step 2: Location Identification

Key location data:

  • Country: Maldives
  • Street: Elhe Didi Magu
  • Google Street View available

Step 3: Answer Format

Must follow this exact format:

country-street-name

Correct format:

maldives-elhe-didi-magu

Format Requirements

  1. All lowercase
  2. Hyphens between words
  3. No spaces
  4. Full street name
  5. Correct spelling
  6. English naming convention

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

  1. Wrong case usage
  2. Missing hyphens
  3. Incorrect street spelling
  4. Extra spaces
  5. Wrong word order
  6. Local language variations

Research Tools

  1. Google Street View
  2. Google Maps
  3. Street maps of Maldives
  4. Tourism websites
  5. Local area guides

Verification Steps

  1. Confirm country is Maldives
  2. Verify exact street name spelling
  3. Check formatting
  4. Validate hyphenation
  5. Confirm case sensitivity

Additional Tips

  1. Use Street View to confirm exact location
  2. Cross-reference tourist photos
  3. Check multiple angles
  4. Verify through local sources
  5. Confirm English spelling conventions

Remember: The key to this challenge is precise street identification and proper formatting of the location name.

Creator(s): Frank Diepmaat