Identify Encoding type - decoding base 32/64

Question

I am getting into CTF's and I am attempting to solve a cryptography riddle. I am Having trouble Identifying the encryption type or format of the text in the file. I have been given a link to download a .rtf file. https://mega.nz/#!a0RTnCAC!gKQhYKlShCYU4bKT8hz4bWJ36ki1DRqObC8-wRgqujE The first line in the file seems to be a base64 string, When I decode it I get "32 - |3 Times A Charm| - 32". The second chuck of characters Seems to be a chunk of base32 text, based on reading that they are composed only of the characters 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ234567 =' (no 0,1,8,9). But that block of text does not end with any repeating characters, which I read is another characterisitc of base32.

There is also a block of text at the bottom, which I have struggle to gain any information about.

I am curious for those willing to look at the document, can you point me in the direction of topics I should research to understand how to Identify the type of encoding, so that I may extrapolate to find the flag (which usually is formatted like this: flag{this_would_be_the_flag} )

Another thing to note is that when I open the file in a simple notepad, I see additional characters, some parts seems to resemble styling about the documents? Possibly meta data since its a .rtf file (I think I might be going down the wrong path looking at the file that way)

Answer 1

The top part is clearly base64, (usually you can tell by the == at the end).

After decoding it, the result is 32 - |3 Times A Charm| - 32.

CTF games and events (like hackthebox.eu, my favorite) usually are multi-step. Meaning this is likely a hint to the next step, not the answer itself.

The extra characters in an rtf are for formatting and are not meant to be included. They are just mostly carriage returns on my notepad.

Finally, you'd have better luck in the CTF forum.

Happy hacking.