Table of Contents

Challenge 0A .......................................................... 2

Challenge 0A

Introduction

Harry,
We have a new mission for you and
your team, and I think you are
going to like it. Here is the
background.
Last May a small container ship
from Singapore disappeared off the
port of Salalah. Last
communications with the ship
didnt suggest any problems but
the Omani Coastguard lost track of
it in a fog bank and after two days
Coastguard cutters were sent out to
search for it. They were joined in
the hunt by a UK Naval destroyer on
exercises, but, despite the pretty
sophisticated equipment they
carried, neither the ship nor
wreckage were found. The local
authorities added the ship to a
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list of potential piracy cases, but

no ransom was demanded for the
vessel. Last week the ship was
found drifting, with no crew or
passengers, near the location where
it was last spotted. The ship was
impounded and searched and the
British Embassy were called in when
they found a cabin full of UK
sourced high tech comms gear. The
Omani government assumed it was
part of a UK listening op spying on
them, but we pointed out that we
wouldnt have abandoned the ship
so close to a foreign power and we
agreed to pool intelligence in an
effort to trace the ships
movements and to figure out what it
was doing there.
A full search revealed an extensive
network of fast computers hidden
behind fake bulkheads and cooled by
seawater. They also found a high
powered aerial giving weight to the
Omani fears that this was a
listening post. Strangely there
were also some signs that part of
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the superstructure had been cut

loose.
Most of the files on the server
have been overwritten several
times, but we did find one thumb
drive containing an encrypted email
archive and the local GCHQ team had
some success decrypting a few of
the messages. Im not sure if
this is good news or bad, but it
appears that this ship was being
used by the Flag Day Associates.
Hackers with their own Navy is a
new one on me - I have no idea why
they would want or need one. We are
going to need your help to figure
out what this means. I tried to get
hold of Charlie in the hope that
she would help, but she has gone
off grid so I hope you and your
team are available.
All the best,
Mark